Read & explore together
Wine Is a Mocker
Proverbs 20 gathers short sayings about self-control, work, honesty, speech and justice. Read as wisdom, not as one story, these lines show that choices, words and hidden motives all matter before Yahweh.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This chapter stays in the compact style of Proverbs. It moves from warnings about drink and quarrels to integrity, trade, family, revenge, vows, kingship and correction. The sayings do not tell one event in sequence, but they do build a clear picture of wise and foolish living.
Proverbs 20:1–30Main takeaway
Proverbs 20 teaches that wisdom shows itself in truthful dealing, restrained speech, patient choices and humility before Yahweh.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Early warnings about control and effortThe chapter opens with dangers that can carry a person away. Drink can mislead, angering a king is perilous, and quarrelling is linked with folly.
Explanation
The chapter opens with dangers that can carry a person away. Drink can mislead, angering a king is perilous, and quarrelling is linked with folly. By contrast, it is honourable to avoid strife. Laziness also has a cost, because missed work in season leaves nothing at harvest.
02Integrity, limits and what can be seenSome things are hidden, like counsel in the heart, yet understanding may draw them out. Faithfulness is rare, and integrity blesses others.
Explanation
Some things are hidden, like counsel in the heart, yet understanding may draw them out. Faithfulness is rare, and integrity blesses others. A king may judge evil, but no person can claim to be pure and without sin. Actions reveal character, even in a child, and sight and hearing are Yahweh’s gifts.
03Honest speech and honest gainThe next sayings move through daily life. False weights and scales are detestable to Yahweh.
Explanation
The next sayings move through daily life. False weights and scales are detestable to Yahweh. Loving sleep leads to poverty. A buyer may speak dishonestly to lower a price, while knowledgeable speech is precious. Risky pledges, fraudulent gain and careless talk all bring trouble rather than lasting good.
04Advice, patience and hidden motivesPlans need advice, not haste. Cursing parents, chasing quick inheritance, seeking revenge or making rash vows are all treated seriously.
Explanation
Plans need advice, not haste. Cursing parents, chasing quick inheritance, seeking revenge or making rash vows are all treated seriously. Instead of paying back evil, the text says to wait for Yahweh. Human steps are from Yahweh, and Yahweh searches the innermost parts, so wisdom includes humility about ourselves.
05Rule, love and sober correctionThe final sayings return to kingship and strength. A wise king removes wickedness, and love and faithfulness sustain a throne.
Explanation
The final sayings return to kingship and strength. A wise king removes wickedness, and love and faithfulness sustain a throne. Youth and old age each have their own honour. The closing proverb speaks soberly of painful correction reaching deep into a person, showing that evil is not treated lightly.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01How do Proverbs 20:5 and Proverbs 20:27 together shape the chapter’s view of what is hidden inside a person?
One verse says understanding may draw out inner counsel, while the other says Yahweh searches the innermost parts.
02What warnings about gaining advantage unfairly appear in this chapter?
Look for dishonest trade, manipulative bargaining, fraudulent gain and quick inheritance, then notice how the chapter judges them.
03What picture of good rule appears in the sayings about kings?
Compare the verses about danger in a king’s anger with the verses about judgement, removing evil and a throne sustained by love and faithfulness.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Proverbs 20:1–30
1Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
2The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.
3It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling.
4The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
5Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.
6Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man?
7A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him.
8A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.
9Who can say, “I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without sin”?
10Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.
11Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.
12The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Yahweh has made even both of them.
13Don’t love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.
14“It’s no good, it’s no good,” says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.
15There is gold and abundance of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel.
16Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.
17Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.
18Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!
19He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore don’t keep company with him who opens wide his lips.
20Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
21An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning won’t be blessed in the end.
22Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you.
23Yahweh detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.
24A man’s steps are from Yahweh; how then can man understand his way?
25It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows.
26A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.
27The spirit of man is Yahweh’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts.
28Love and faithfulness keep the king safe. His throne is sustained by love.
29The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.
30Wounding blows cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost parts.