Proverbs 6:1
in Proverbs 6My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbor, If thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger;
KJV
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
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This verse in Proverbs 6
Commentary
8 notes on this verseMy son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, and art snared with the words of thy mouth, and art taken with thine own speeches. For to be surety for a friend is to take charge of the soul of another on the surety of one's own behaviour. Whence also the hand is stricken with a stranger, because the mind is bound with the care of a responsibility which before was not.
This site's exposition
struck hands in pledge with a stranger
on Proverbs 6:1-5
A son has “put up security for your neighbor” and “struck hands in pledge with a stranger,” and his own promise holds him fast. The son must break free at once, “like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,” putting safety before pride.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
My son, if you have become surety for your friend, etc. The plain sense of this letter is clear, as it advises one who has become surety for a friend to diligently admonish that friend to repay the money owed to the creditor, thus freeing …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Stricken thy hand - Obliged thyself by giving thine hand, as the custom then was in such cases. With - With the creditor, whom he calls a stranger, because the usurers in Israel, who lent money to others, upon condition of paying use for it, were either Heathens, or were reputed as bad as Heathens, because this practice was forbidden by God's law, Deut. xxiii, 19.
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend,....
If thou hast rashly entered into such engagements, either wheedled into them or in hopes to have the same kindness done for thee another time, know that thou art snared with the words of thy mouth; it was easily done, with a word's speaking; it was but setting thy hand to a paper, a bond is soon sealed and delivered, and a recognizance entered into.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Surety - The “pledge,” or security for payment, which, for example, David was to bring back from his brothers 1Sa 17:18. So the word was used in the primitive trade transactions of the early Israelites. In the warnings against this suretyship, in the Book of Proverbs, we may trace the influence of contact with the Phoenicians. The merchants of Tyre and Zidon seem to have discovered the value of credit as an element of wealth.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
If thou be surety for thy friend - לרעך lereacha, for thy neighbor; i.e., any person. If thou pledge thyself in behalf of another, thou takest the burden off him, and placest it on thine own shoulders; and when he knows he has got one to stand between him and the demands of law and justice, he will feel little responsibility; his spirit of exertion will become crippled, and listlessness as to the event will be the consequence. His own character will suffer little; his property nothing, for his friend bears all the burden: and perhaps the very person for whom he bore this burden treats him with neglect; and, lest the restoration of the pledge should be required, will avoid both the sight and presence of his friend. Give what thou canst; but, except in extreme cases, be surety for no man. Striking or shaking hands when the mouth had once made the promise, was considered as the ratification of the engagement; and thus the man became ensnared with the words of his mouth.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
My son, if you have stood surety Our Sages explained this as referring to surety in monetary matters, according to its apparent meaning.
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. 5 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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּ֭נִי | beni | O son my | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| עָרַ֣בְתָּ | ʾaravta | you have stood surety | H6148 → | 22 times |
| לְרֵעֶ֑ךָ | lereekha | for fellow-citizen your | H7453 → | 188 times |
| תָּקַ֖עְתָּ | taka'ta | you have struck | H8628 → | 69 times |
| לַזָּ֣ר | lazar | for the stranger | H2114 → | 77 times |
| כַּפֶּֽיךָ׃ | kapeikha | palms your | H3709 → | 192 times |
בְּ֭נִיO son my
beniH1121 →4930 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
עָרַ֣בְתָּyou have stood surety
ʾaravtaH6148 →22 times
לְרֵעֶ֑ךָfor fellow-citizen your
lereekhaH7453 →188 times
תָּקַ֖עְתָּyou have struck
taka'taH8628 →69 times
לַזָּ֣רfor the stranger
lazarH2114 →77 times
כַּפֶּֽיךָ׃palms your
kapeikhaH3709 →192 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
Proverbs 17:18A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.
it leads to
- Proverbs 11:15
He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- 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,
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 22:26–27
Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 20:16
Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 11:15
Through
Proverbs 20:16Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.
it leads to
- Proverbs 27:13
Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 22:26–27
If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,
- Proverbs 27:13
Through
Proverbs 22:26Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.
it leads to
- Proverbs 17:18
A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 17:18
Through
Genesis 43:9I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life.
it leads to
- Genesis 42:37
Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I fail to bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him.”
- Genesis 42:37
Where this verse is studied
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Gregory the Dialogist, Pastoral Rule 3.4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.