1 Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whosoever is delighted therewith shell not be wise. 2 As the roaring of a lion, so also is the dread of a king: he that provoketh him, sinneth against his own soul. 3 It is an honour for a man to separate himself from quarrels: but all fools are meddling with reproaches. 4 Because of the cold the sluggard would not plough: he shall beg therefore in the summer, and it shall not be given him. 5 Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water: but a wise man will draw it out. 6 Many men are called merciful: but who shall find a faithful man? 7 The just that walketh in his simplicity, shall leave behind him blessed children. 8 The king, that sitteth on the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with his look. 9 Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin? 10 Diverse weights and diverse measures, both are abominable before God. 11 By his inclinations a child is known, if his works be clean and right. 12 The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made them both. 13 Love not sleep, lest poverty oppress thee: open thy eyes, and be filled with bread. 14 It is nought, it is nought, saith every buyer: and when he is gone away, then he will boast. 15 There is gold, and a multitude of jewels: but the lips of knowledge are a precious vessel. 16 Take away the garment of him that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge from him for strangers. 17 The bread of lying is sweet to a man: but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. 18 Designs are strengthened by counsels: and wars are to be managed by governments. 19 Meddle not with him that revealeth secrets, and walketh deceitfully, and openeth wide his lips. 20 He that curseth his father, and mother, his lamp shall be put out in the midst of darkness. 21 The inheritance gotten hastily in the beginning, in the end shall be without a blessing. 22 Say not: I will return evil: wait for the Lord and he will deliver thee. 23 Diverse weights are an abomination before the Lord: a deceitful balance is not good. 24 The steps of man are guided by the Lord: but who is the man that can understand his own way? 25 It is ruin to a man to devour holy ones, and after vows to retract. 26 A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth over them the wheel. 27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, which searcheth all the hidden things of the bowels. 28 Mercy and truth preserve the king, and his throne is strengthened by clemency. 29 The joy of young men is their strength: and the dignity of old men, their grey hairs. 30 The blueness of a wound shall wipe away evils: and stripes in the more inward parts of the belly.
Proverbs · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Proverbs 20 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (30)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Ephesians 5:18; Hosea 4:11; Isaiah 28:7; 1 Corinthians 6:10; Proverbs 31:4
- 2 Proverbs 19:12; Ecclesiastes 10:4; 1 Kings 2:23; Proverbs 8:36; Hosea 11:10
- 3 Proverbs 16:32; Proverbs 17:14; Proverbs 19:11; Ephesians 4:32–5:1; Proverbs 14:29
- 4 Proverbs 10:4; Proverbs 19:15; Proverbs 13:4; Matthew 25:24–28; Matthew 25:3–10
- 5 Proverbs 18:4; 1 Corinthians 2:11; Psalm 64:6
- 6 Psalm 12:1; Matthew 6:2; Luke 18:8; Luke 22:33; Proverbs 27:2
- 7 Psalm 112:2; Psalm 37:26; Jeremiah 32:39; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Acts 2:39
- 8 Proverbs 25:5; Proverbs 20:26; Proverbs 29:14; Psalm 99:4; Psalm 92:9
- 9 Ecclesiastes 7:20; 1 John 1:8–10; 1 Kings 8:46; Job 14:4; Job 15:14
- 10 Proverbs 20:23; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Leviticus 19:35; Deuteronomy 25:13–15
- 11 Matthew 7:16; Luke 6:43–44; Proverbs 21:8; Luke 2:46–47; Psalm 51:5
- 12 Matthew 13:13–16; Psalm 94:9; Psalm 119:18; Exodus 4:11; Ephesians 1:17–18
- 13 Romans 12:11; Proverbs 19:15; Romans 13:11; Proverbs 12:11; Proverbs 10:4
- 14 1 Thessalonians 4:6
- 15 Proverbs 8:11; Proverbs 25:12; Proverbs 16:24; Proverbs 16:16; Romans 10:14–15
- 16 Proverbs 27:13; Exodus 22:26–27; Proverbs 22:26–27; Proverbs 11:15; Proverbs 7:5
- 17 Ecclesiastes 11:9; Proverbs 9:17–18; Job 20:12–20; Lamentations 3:15–16; Hebrews 11:25
- 18 Luke 14:31; Proverbs 24:6; Proverbs 15:22; Judges 1:1–2; Proverbs 11:14
- 19 Proverbs 11:13; Proverbs 13:3; Romans 16:18; Proverbs 18:8; Leviticus 19:16
- 20 Exodus 21:17; Proverbs 30:11; Proverbs 30:17; Matthew 15:4; Jude 13
- 21 1 Timothy 6:9; Proverbs 13:22; Proverbs 28:8; Proverbs 23:4; Proverbs 28:22
- 22 Romans 12:17–19; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; Proverbs 24:29; Proverbs 17:13; 1 Peter 3:9
- 23 Proverbs 20:10; Hosea 12:7; Ezekiel 45:10; Proverbs 11:1; Amos 8:5
- 24 Proverbs 16:9; Jeremiah 10:23; Psalm 25:12; Psalm 37:23; Psalm 25:4
- 25 Ecclesiastes 5:4–6; Matthew 5:33; Numbers 30:2–16; Leviticus 27:9–10; Malachi 3:8–10
- 26 Proverbs 20:8; 2 Samuel 12:31; Psalm 101:5–8; 2 Samuel 4:9–12; Isaiah 28:27–28
- 27 1 Corinthians 2:11; Hebrews 4:12–13; Job 32:8; 1 John 3:19–21; Genesis 2:7
- 28 Proverbs 16:12; Psalm 26:1; Proverbs 29:14; Psalm 101:1; Isaiah 16:5
- 29 1 John 2:14; Proverbs 16:31; Leviticus 19:32; Jeremiah 9:23–24
- 30 Hebrews 12:10; Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 19:25; Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 27:9
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, "The Spirit of the Lord is a candle searching the secret parts of the belly." Let us reflect how near He is, and that none of the thoughts or reasonings in which we engage are hid from Him.
Because, "When the righteous King sitteth on the throne, who will glory that his heart is pure?" It may be thou dost not discover anything in thine own conscience; but He who seeth better, whose Divine glance penetrateth into deeper things, discovereth it may be something, He seeth it may be something, He discovereth something.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
Here then it is further required, that each of you be found faithful in his conscience: for a faithful man it is hard to find: not that thou shouldest shew thy conscience to me, for thou art not to be judged of man's judgment; but that thou shew the sincerity of thy faith to God, who trieth the reins …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
So too it is said by Solomon, "For the wise king is the winnower of the ungodly, and he bringeth on them the wheel of the wicked.--After Thine height Thou hast multiplied the sons of men." For there is in temporal things too a multiplication, which turns away from the unity of God.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
For there be many that please themselves, and think themselves righteous; and there is another passage which goeth against them, which saith, "Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, and that he is pure from sin?" There is then, so to speak, a limit to glorying in our conscience, namely, to know that thy faith is sincere, thy …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)