Proverbs 20:25

It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
snare	מוֹקֵ֣שׁ mo.Kesh	H4170	a noose (for catching animals) (literally or figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
man	אָ֭דָם 'A.dom	H120	ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
devoureth	יָ֣לַע Ya.la'	H3216	to blurt or utter inconsiderately · verb, qal jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
holy	קֹ֑דֶשׁ Ko.desh	H6944	a sacred place or thing · noun, common masculine singular absolute
after	וְאַחַ֖ר ve.'a.Char	H310	properly · conjunction + cardinal number, masculine singular construct
vows	נְדָרִ֣ים ne.da.Rim	H5088	a promise (to God) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
enquiry	לְבַקֵּֽר le.va.Ker	H1239	properly · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
Matthew 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oath…
Leviticus 27:9-10 And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto the LORD shall be holy.
Numbers 30:2-16 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all t…
Leviticus 5:15 If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a…
Leviticus 22:10-15 There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.
Proverbs 18:7 A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.
Malachi 3:8-10 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 20:25

Two things, by which God is greatly affronted, men are here said to be ensnared by, and entangled not only in guilt, but in trouble and ruin at length: - 1. Sacrilege, men's alienating holy things and converting them to their own use, which is here called devouring them. What is devoted in any way to the service and honour of God, for the support of religion and divine worship or the relief of the poor, ought to be conscientiously preserved to the purposes designed; and those that directly or indirectly embezzle it, or defeat the purpose for which it was given, will have a great deal to answer for. Will a man rob God in tithes and offerings? Mal 3:8. Those that hurry over religious offices (…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 20:25

devoureth . . . holy--or, better, "who rashly speaks promises," or "devotes what is holy," consecrating any thing. This suits better the last clause, which expresses a similar view of the results of rashly vowing.

John Gill on Proverbs 20:25

It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy,.... Which is separated to sacred uses, is devoted to the Lord, as firstfruits, tithes, offerings, &c. which if a man converts to his own use is sacrilege, and this is a sin and a snare, and brings ruin on him; see Malachi 3:8; and after vows to make inquiry: that is a sin and a snare also; a man should first inquire before he vows, whether it is right for him to make a vow, and whether he is able to keep it; it is too late after the vow is made to inquire about the lawfulness or expedience of it, and how to find out ways and means to dissolve it and be clear of it; for it is better not to vow, than to vow and not pay, Ecclesiastes 5…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 20:25

25 It is a snare to a man to cry out hastily "holy;" And first after vows to investigate. Two other interpretations of the first line have been proposed. The snare of a man devours, i.e., destroys the holy; but then מוקשׁ אדם must be an expression of an action, instead of an expression of an endurance, which is impossible. The same is true against the explanation: the snare of a man devours, i.e., consumes, eats up the holy, which as such is withdrawn from common use. Jerome with his devotare sanctos, and Luther with his das Heilige lestern [to calumniate the holy], give to לוּע = בּלע a meaning which loses itself in the arbitrary. Accordingly, nothing is to be done with the meaning καταπίε…

The Church Fathers

It is ruin for a man to devour the holy, etc. Since it is a sin to harm any man, how much more so when it is he who has sinned? How forty men in the Acts of the Apostles vowed that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul; and pagans often, as we read, devoted the blood of Christians to their gods. This verse the ancient edition set in another sense, saying: It is a snare for a man to dedicate something quickly of his own; afterwards, when he has made a vow, he repents. And because to both those who, to complete their vows, persecute the holy, eternal damnation remains, it is rightly added:
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Vows · Danger of inconsiderately making — Danger of inconsiderately making

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 20:25

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 20:25

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 20:25

John Gill on Proverbs 20:25

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 20:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 20:25

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 20:25

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 20:25

John Gill on Proverbs 20:25

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 20:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 20:25

Rashi on Proverbs 20:25