Proverbs 20:2-12

2 The terror of a king is like 1the growling of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger 2forfeits his life.
3 It is an honor for a man to 3keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling.
4 4The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; 5he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
5 The purpose in a man's heart is like 6deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.
6 Many a man 7proclaims his own steadfast love, but 8a faithful man who can find?
7 The righteous who 9walks in his integrity-- 10blessed are his children after him!
8 11A king who sits on the throne of judgment 12winnows all evil with his eyes.
9 13Who can say, "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"?
10 14Unequal[a] weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
11 Even a child 15makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright.[b]
12 16The hearing ear and the seeing eye, 17the LORD has made them both.

Cross References 17

  • 1. See Proverbs 19:12
  • 2. Numbers 16:38; Habakkuk 2:10; See Proverbs 8:36
  • 3. [Proverbs 17:14]
  • 4. [Proverbs 19:24]
  • 5. Proverbs 19:15; [Proverbs 6:11]
  • 6. Proverbs 18:4
  • 7. [Proverbs 25:14; Matthew 6:2; Luke 18:11]
  • 8. [Psalms 12:1]
  • 9. See Proverbs 19:1
  • 10. [1 Kings 15:4; Psalms 37:26; Psalms 112:2; Jeremiah 33:20, 21]
  • 11. [Proverbs 16:10]
  • 12. [ver. 26; Proverbs 25:5; Psalms 101:5]
  • 13. See 1 Kings 8:46
  • 14. ver. 23; See Proverbs 11:1
  • 15. [Matthew 7:16]
  • 16. Proverbs 15:31; Proverbs 25:12
  • 17. Exodus 4:11; Psalms 94:9

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or Two kinds of; also verse 23
  • [b]. Or Even a child can dissemble in his actions, though his conduct seems pure and upright
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.