Proverbs 24:27
in Proverbs 24Complete your outdoor work and prepare your field; after that, you may build your house.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Prepare thy work without, And make it ready for thee in the field; And afterwards build thy house.
KJV
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
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This verse in Proverbs 24
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThe sacred Scripture has somewhere said, "Prepare your works for your departure, and make yourself ready for the field." Now by our departure I imagine is meant our going from this world and removal from it. And this time must of course overtake every one; for, as the psalmist says, "What man is there that shall live and not see death, and that can save his soul from the hand of hell?" For the nature of man was condemned in Adam and fell away unto corruption, because he foolishly transgressed the commandment given him.
This site's exposition
Complete your outdoor work
"Complete your outdoor work and prepare your field; after that, you may build your house" sets a plain order for a farming household. Henry sets it beside the wise builder of verse 3. The two verses frame this collection's practical counsel around one image of a household rightly raised.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Apostolic ConstitutionsCONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES · Written before 380.
proposed
Therefore he who values the security of his soul will take care to be out of danger, by keeping free from sin, that so he may preserve the advantage of his former good works to himself. .
It is a day of shouting and the trumpet. It is a day of grief and sighing for those who have not prepared their works well for the way, which means for their departure out of the body, so that they might meet God profitably.
Therefore he who values the security of his soul will take care to be out of danger, by keeping free from sin, that so he may preserve the advantage of his former good works to himself.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Prepare your work outside, etc. What is it to diligently cultivate the field with prepared labor, except to root out the thorns of iniquities and perfect our action for the fruit of retribution? And what is it to return to building the house after cultivating …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
This happens when a man has good intentions but does not fulfill them: then it is that the thistles of malice and the nettles of cupidity come to grow. The stone wall of the virtues is destroyed because of the dissipation of thoughts. Hence, in …
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Prepare thy work without,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
i. e., Get an estate into good order before erecting a house on it. To “build a house” may, however, be equivalent (compare Exo 1:21; Deu 25:9; Rth 4:11) to “founding a family;” and the words a warning against a hasty and imprudent marriage. The young man is taught to cultivate his land before he has to bear the burdens of a family. Further, in a spiritual sense, the “field” may be the man’s outer common work, the “house” the dwelling-place of his higher life. He must do the former faithfully in order to attain the latter.
Prepare thy work without - Do nothing without a plan. In winter prepare seed, implements, tackle, geers, etc., for seed-time and harvest.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָ֘כֵ֤ן | hakhen | establish | H3559 → | 217 times |
| בַּח֨וּץ׀ | bachutz | on the outside | H2351 → | 164 times |
| מְלַאכְתֶּ֗ךָ | melakhtekha | work your | H4399 → | 167 times |
| וְעַתְּדָ֣הּ | veatedah | and make ready it | H6257 → | |
| בַּשָּׂדֶ֣ה | basadeh | in the field | H7704 → | 334 times |
| לָ֑ךְ | lakh | for yourself | ||
| אַ֝חַ֗ר | ʾachar | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| וּבָנִ֥יתָ | uvanita | and you will build | H1129 → | 376 times |
| בֵיתֶֽךָ׃ פ | veitekha | house your | H1004 → | 2046 times |
הָ֘כֵ֤ןestablish
hakhenH3559 →217 times
בַּח֨וּץ׀on the outside
bachutzH2351 →164 times
מְלַאכְתֶּ֗ךָwork your
melakhtekhaH4399 →167 times
וְעַתְּדָ֣הּand make ready it
veatedahH6257 →
בַּשָּׂדֶ֣הin the field
basadehH7704 →334 times
לָ֑ךְfor yourself
lakh
אַ֝חַ֗רafter
ʾacharH310 →715 times
וּבָנִ֥יתָand you will build
uvanitaH1129 →376 times
בֵיתֶֽךָ׃ פhouse your
veitekhaH1004 →2046 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
1 Kings 6:7The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:5–6
Moreover, you are to build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You must not use any iron tool on them.
- 1 Peter 2:5
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- Exodus 20:25
Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.
- 1 Kings 5:17–18
And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.
- Colossians 1:12
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
- Deuteronomy 27:5–6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Proverbs
This page draws on 11 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; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Besa The Copt, SERMON 3, ON THE PUNISHMENT OF SINNERS 10:2; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 118; 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 2:3.13.