Proverbs 20:9
in Proverbs 20Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
KJV
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
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This verse in Proverbs 20
Commentary
12 notes on this verseWho can say, I have made any heart clean - No man. But thousands can testify that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed them from all unrighteousness. And he is pure from his sin, who is justified freely through the redemption that is in Jesus.
This site's exposition
Many a man proclaims his loving devotion
on Proverbs 20:6-9
The righteous man and the king who "sifts out all evil with his eyes" describe a righteousness the next verse will let no one claim. Its question, who can say "I have kept my heart pure," stands beside 1 John 1:8, since no self-examination produces a clean heart before God.
This site's exposition
I have kept my heart pure
Adam Clarke answers the question plainly. No man can say his heart is pure, he writes, though thousands can testify that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed them. The man cleansed from his sin is the one justified freely.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Whose soul, then, is pure from stain? How has anyone not been struck by vanity or been trodden down by the foot of pride? Whose hand has never been touched by sin? Whose feet have never run toward evil? Who has not been polluted by a roving eye or been defiled by an undisciplined ear? Whose taste has never been preoccupied by its enjoyment, whose heart has remained unmoved by vain emotions?
A commentator
Apostolic ConstitutionsCONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2 · Written before 380.
proposed
No human, therefore, is without sin. Labor therefore to the utmost of your power to be unblamable; and be solicitous of all the parts of your flock, lest any one be scandalized on your account and thereby perish.
"Who can say," writes the wise man, "I have made my heart clean"? The stars are not pure in the Lord's sight; how much less people whose whole life is one long temptation.
No human, therefore, is without sin. Labor therefore to the utmost of your power to be unblamable; and be solicitous of all the parts of your flock, lest any one be scandalized on your account and thereby perish.
Shouldest thou then have gone all lengths in wickedness, yet say unto thyself, God is loving unto men and he desires our salvation: for "though your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten you as snow," saith He; and unto the contrary habit I will change you. Let us not therefore give up in despair; for to fall is not so grievous, as to lie where we have fallen; nor to be wounded so dreadful, as after wounds to refuse healing. "For who shall boast that he has his heart chaste? or who shall say confidently that he is pure from sin?" These things I say not to make you more negligent, but to prevent your despairing.
4 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
The merciful God has provided for the inhabitants of earth repentance as the medicine of salvation. Some endeavor to dispense with repentance, saying of themselves that they are clean. In their great madness they do not understand that to entertain such an idea of themselves is full of all impurity. For "no man is free from defilement," as it is written.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Who can say, My heart is clean, I am pure from sin? It should be noted that He does not say, Who can have a clean heart and be pure from sin? But He says, Who can say, My heart is clean, I am pure …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Who can say, I have made my heart clean,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A warning voice against the spirit, which, ignorant of its own guilt, is forward to condemn others.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יֹ֭אמַר | yomar | will he say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| זִכִּ֣יתִי | zikiti | I have kept pure | H2135 → | |
| לִבִּ֑י | libi | heart my | H3820 → | 595 times |
| טָ֝הַ֗רְתִּי | taharti | I am pure | H2891 → | |
| מֵחַטָּאתִֽי׃ | mechatati | from sin my | H2403 → | 295 times |
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יֹ֭אמַרwill he say
yomarH559 →5305 times
זִכִּ֣יתִיI have kept pure
zikitiH2135 →
לִבִּ֑יheart my
libiH3820 →595 times
טָ֝הַ֗רְתִּיI am pure
tahartiH2891 →
מֵחַטָּאתִֽי׃from sin my
mechatatiH2403 →295 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Ecclesiastes 7:20Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
it leads to
- 1 John 1:8–10
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 53:6
We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- James 3:2
We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.
- 1 Kings 8:46
When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether…
- 1 John 1:8–10
Through
1 Kings 8:46When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether…
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 7:20
Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ecclesiastes 7:20
Through
Job 15:14What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
it leads to
- Job 25:4–6
How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 25:4–6
Through
Job 14:4Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!
it leads to
- John 3:6
Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.
- John 3:6
Where this verse is studied
About Proverbs
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Apostolic Constitutions, CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 149; Gregory of Nyssa, ON THE LORD'S PRAYER 5; Jerome, LETTER 125.7; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON 1 CORINTHIANS 8:8; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Nilus of Sinai, CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2:3.18.