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The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

Proverbs 20:20,21

PROVERBS—NOTE ON Proverbs 20:20 The person who despises parental authority will eventually face utter darkness (compare Exodus 20:12). An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning. Too much wealth given too soon is often spent greedily, and so it does not last (see note on Prov. 13:11). In Israel, land was given as an inheritance for the continued welfare of the family (see Proverbs 13:22), not to use simply for one’s personal pleasure.

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See also Proverbs 20:20,21 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Proverbs 20:20. _WHOSO CURSETH HIS FATHER_] Such persons were put to death under the law; see Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9, and here it is said, Their _lamp shall be put out_-they shall have no...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    A connecting link between Leviticus 20:9 and Matthew 15:4. The words, “his lamp shall be put out,” describe the failure of outward happiness....

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 20 PROVERBS AS TO PERSONAL CONDUCT Proverbs of warning and instructions as to personal conduct are found mostly in this chapter; a number of them are of special interest if applied to Solomon....

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    PROVERBS 20. We have still further traces in Proverbs 20:9; Proverbs 20:24 of the sceptical spirit and the obstinate questionings of self characteristic of the later Greek period of Jewish thought. P...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    CURSETH. revileth. LAMP SHALL BE PUT OUT.. Figure of speech _Hypocatastasis_ (App-6), denoting that he shall die childless....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _obscure darkness_ Better, THE BLACKEST DARKNESS, R.V. Lit. _the pupil_(of the eye) _of darkness_(comp. "in the pupil of night," Proverbs 7:9, and note): i.e. in the darkest part, as the pupil is of t...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    TEXT Proverbs 20:11-20 11. Even a child maketh himself known by his doings, Whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. 12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even bot...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. WHOSO CURSETH HIS FATHER ... HIS LAMP (THE TEMPORARY PROSPERITY WHICH HE MAY HAVE) SHALL BE PUT OUT IN OBSCUR...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    20:20 blackest (e-16) Lit. 'the eyeball of.' see ch. 7.9....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    1. RAGING] RV 'a brawler.' IS deceived] RM 'reeleth.' It makes a man sneer, quarrel and reel about....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    We must respect our parents. God orders us to do this. See Deuteronomy 5:16, and Matthew 15:4-6. The second line of verse 20 means that this man deserves death. A man who insults his parents deserves...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    LESSONS ABOUT WISDOM PROVERBS _KEITH SIMONS_ CHAPTER 20 V1 Wine is like a man who insults you. Beer is like a man who shouts at you. If wine and beer tempt you, then you are not wise....

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    HIS LAMP SHALL BE PUT OUT IN OBSCURE DARKNESS. — See above, on Proverbs 13:9....

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    מְ֭קַלֵּל אָבִ֣יו וְ אִמֹּ֑ו יִֽדְעַ֥ךְ נֵ֝רֹ֗ו _בֶּ_†

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 21 IDLENESS "After the autumn gathering the slothful does not plough; he asks in the harvest, and there is nothing."- Proverbs 20:4 WE have already in the sixth lecture caught a glimpse of t...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 17 A JUST BALANCE "A just balance and scales are the Lord's: all the weights of the bag are His work."- Proverbs 16:11 "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    “THE GLORY OF YOUNG MEN” Proverbs 20:16-30 What a wonderful thought is given in Proverbs 20:27! We stand like a row of unlighted candles until God's Spirit kindles us. Has the Divine Nature ever bent...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Verse Proverbs 20:9. This is the eternal challenge which has but one answer. When a man recognizes this he begins to inquire for a Saviour. Verse Proverbs 20:14. "It is bad, it is bad," is the descrip...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Lamp. Prosperity, or children._...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. There is...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 10 THROUGH 31. In chapter 10 begin the details which teach those who give ear how to avoid the snares into which the simple might fall, the path to be followe...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    WHOSO CURSETH HIS FATHER OR HIS MOTHER,.... This is dreadful indeed! a person must be got to a great pitch of wickedness to do this; to curse his parents, one or other of them, that have been the inst...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Ver. 20. _Whoso curseth his father, &c._] _See Trapp on "_ Exo 21:17 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Mat 15:4 _"_ Parents u...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    V. 20. WHOSO CURSETH HIS FATHER OR HIS MOTHER, in a bold and blasphemous transgression of the Fourth Commandment, HIS LAMP SHALL BE PUT OUT IN OBSCURE DARKNESS, the picture being that of hopeless dest...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    LAMP: Or, candle...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    OR HIS MOTHER, Heb. _and his mother_; which is used for _or_, EXODUS 12:5 LEVITICUS 6:3, and elsewhere. HIS LAMP; his comfort and happiness, his name and memory, which are oft compared in Scripture to...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Proverbs 20:20 curses H7043 (H8764) father H1 mother H517 lamp H5216 out H1846 (H8799) deep H380 ...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Warnings and instructions regarding the ways of folly. CHARACTERS: God. CONCLUSION: Here in this imperfect state, no person can claim to be sinless, but the just man, walking by the rule o...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Proverbs 20:1. _Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging._ In the book of Ecclesiasticus intoxication is connected with poverty, with harlots, with destruction: chap. Proverbs 19:1. Cyrus, after notic...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 20:20_ AN UNNATURAL CHILD AND A NATURAL LAW I. AN UNNATURAL CHILD. The ungrateful son or daughter of good parents is an unnatural being. If experience did not contradict,...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION PROVERBS 20:1 WINE IS A MOCKER; or, scorner, the word (_luts_) being taken up from the last chapter. The liquor is, as it were, personified, as doing what men do under its influence. Thus...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Into chapter 20. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise (Proverbs 20:1). He will have more to say about wine as we move along in our study next week,...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Deuteronomy 27:16; Exodus 20:12; Exodus 21:17; Job 18:18; Job 18:5;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Lamp — His name and memory shall utterly perish....

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