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Proverbs 20:16

in Proverbs 20

Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; And hold him in pledge that is surety for foreigners.

KJV

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

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This verse in Proverbs 20

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger - I suppose the meaning to be, If a stranger or unknown person become surety in a case, greater caution should be used, and such security taken from this stranger as would prevent him from running away from his engagements.

This site's exposition

Take the garment of the one

on Proverbs 20:16-19

Food gained by fraud is sweet at first, "but later his mouth is full of gravel," dishonest gain tasted at its true weight. Plans are set by consultation and war waged under sound guidance, and the one who reveals secrets is named "a constant gossip" to be avoided.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Take his garment--implies severe exaction, justified by the surety's rashness. a strange woman--by some readings "strangers," but the former here, and in Pr 27:13, is allowable, and strengthens the sense. The debauchee is less reliable than the merely careless.
The warning against suretiship and lust are here repeated and combined (compare Pro 27:13). The judge tells the creditor to seize the goods of the surety who has been weak enough to pledge himself for those who are alien to him, instead of those of the actual debtor. The reading of the the King James Version recalls in the second clause the history of Tamar Gen 38:17-18. The Hebrew text, however, gives “strangers” in the masculine plural, and is probably right, the feminine being the reading of the margin, probably adopted from Pro 27:13.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man Adultery with a married woman.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Proverbs 20:17:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • לְֽקַח־take

    lekach-H3947 →966 times

  • בִּ֭גְדוֹgarment his

    bigdoH899 →217 times

  • כִּי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • עָ֣רַבhe stands surety for

    ʾaravH6148 →22 times

  • זָ֑רa stranger

    zarH2114 →77 times

  • וּבְעַ֖דand for

    uveadH1157 →105 times

  • נָכְרִיָּ֣הa foreign [woman]

    nakherimH5237 →45 times

  • חַבְלֵֽהוּ׃hold in pledge it

    chavlehuH2254 →27 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

15 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Proverbs 27:13Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.8 worksProverbs 6:1My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,8 worksExodus 22:26If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,5 worksProverbs 22:27If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?5 worksProverbs 11:15He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.4 worksProverbs 17:18A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.4 works
The other 9 cross-references, with their words ▾
Proverbs 22:26–27Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.3 worksProverbs 7:10Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.2 worksProverbs 2:16It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words2 worksProverbs 5:3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,2 worksProverbs 7:5that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.2 worksProverbs 23:27For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.2 worksGenesis 38:17“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”2 worksHebrews 7:22Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.1 worksJob 17:3Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Proverbs 27:13

    Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 22:26–27

      Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Proverbs 6:1–4

      My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,

  • Through

    Proverbs 7:10

    Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.

    it leads to

    • 2 Corinthians 11:2–3

      I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

    • 1 Timothy 2:9

      Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

    • Isaiah 3:16–24

      The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—

    • Jeremiah 4:30

      And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain;…

  • Through

    Proverbs 11:15

    He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 17:18

      A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.

    • Proverbs 6:1–5

      My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,

Where this verse is studied

About Proverbs

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Proverbs: the study guide →Read Proverbs 20 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Proverbs 20 →