Proverbs 25:21
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
If your enemy
The term "enemy" in Hebrew is "oyev," which refers to someone who harbors hostility or opposition. In the ancient Near Eastern context, enemies were often seen as those who threatened one's life, family, or community. The radical nature of this command is underscored by the cultural expectation of retribution and defense against one's foes. The call to love and provide for an enemy is a profound departure from the norm, reflecting a divine standard of grace and mercy that transcends human instinct.

is hungry
Hunger, in the biblical sense, often symbolizes a deep need or lack. The Hebrew word "ra'eb" conveys not just physical hunger but also a metaphorical yearning or emptiness. In a spiritual context, this can be seen as a call to recognize the deeper needs of those who oppose us, understanding that their hostility may stem from a place of lack or brokenness. This perspective encourages believers to look beyond the surface and address the root causes of enmity.

give him food to eat
The act of giving food is a tangible expression of love and compassion. In the ancient world, sharing a meal was a sign of fellowship and peace. The Hebrew word "lechem" (bread or food) is often used to denote sustenance and life. By providing for an enemy's physical needs, one extends an olive branch, offering not just sustenance but also the possibility of reconciliation and transformation. This act mirrors God's provision for humanity, who, despite being in enmity with Him, are offered the Bread of Life.

and if he is thirsty
Thirst, like hunger, represents a fundamental human need. The Hebrew word "tsame" indicates a parched or dry state, both physically and spiritually. In biblical literature, thirst often symbolizes a longing for righteousness or divine presence. Recognizing an enemy's thirst is an invitation to see them as God sees them—individuals in need of grace and truth. This perspective challenges believers to respond with empathy and understanding.

give him water to drink
Water, in the biblical narrative, is a powerful symbol of life, cleansing, and renewal. The act of giving water to an enemy is an invitation to participate in God's redemptive work. The Hebrew word "mayim" (water) is frequently associated with the Holy Spirit and the life-giving power of God's Word. By offering water, believers are called to be conduits of God's love, extending grace and mercy to those who may least expect it. This act of kindness can break down barriers and open the door to healing and reconciliation.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Solomon
Traditionally attributed as the author of Proverbs, Solomon was the son of King David and known for his wisdom. Proverbs is a collection of his wise sayings.

2. Enemies
In the context of this verse, "enemies" refers to those who oppose or have hostility towards us. The verse challenges the natural human response to treat enemies with kindness.

3. Ancient Israel
The cultural and historical backdrop of Proverbs, where hospitality and care for others were significant societal values.
Teaching Points
The Call to Radical Kindness
Proverbs 25:21 challenges believers to respond to hostility with generosity, reflecting God's grace and mercy.

Breaking the Cycle of Retaliation
By feeding and giving drink to our enemies, we break the cycle of revenge and hostility, promoting peace and reconciliation.

Reflecting Christ's Love
As followers of Christ, we are called to mirror His love and forgiveness, even towards those who oppose us.

Trusting in God's Justice
By showing kindness to our enemies, we trust in God's ultimate justice and leave vengeance to Him.

Practical Steps in Loving Enemies
Consider practical ways to show kindness to those who oppose you, such as praying for them, offering help, or speaking kindly.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Proverbs 25:21 challenge your natural response to those who oppose you?

2. In what ways can you practically "feed" and "give drink" to your enemies in your current life situation?

3. How does the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:44) expand upon the wisdom found in Proverbs 25:21?

4. Reflect on a time when you responded to an enemy with kindness. What was the outcome, and how did it affect your relationship with that person?

5. How can trusting in God's justice help you to let go of the desire for personal revenge against those who have wronged you?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 5:44
Jesus teaches to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, echoing the wisdom of Proverbs 25:21.

Romans 12:20
Paul directly quotes Proverbs 25:21, emphasizing the Christian call to overcome evil with good.

Exodus 23:4-5
The Law instructs Israelites to help their enemy's animal in distress, showing an early precedent for kindness to enemies.
The True TriumphW. Clarkson Proverbs 25:21
The Wisdom of ModerationW. Clarkson Proverbs 25:16, 27
The Inopportune and the AcceptableW. Clarkson Proverbs 25:20, 25
Love to Our EnemyE. Johnson Proverbs 25:21, 22
People
Hezekiah, Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Bread, Cause, Drink, Eat, Enemy, Hater, Hating, Hunger, Hungry, Thirst, Thirsty
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 25:21

     4293   water
     8243   ethics, social
     8301   love, and enemies

Proverbs 25:20-21

     5972   unkindness

Proverbs 25:21-22

     4318   coal
     5495   revenge, and retaliation
     5499   reward, divine
     6655   forgiveness, application
     8728   enemies, of Israel and Judah
     8730   enemies, of believers
     8737   evil, responses to
     8813   riches, spiritual

Library
An Unwalled City
'He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.'--PROVERBS xxv. 28. The text gives us a picture of a state of society when an unwalled city is no place for men to dwell in. In the Europe of today there are still fortified places, but for the most part, battlements are turned into promenades; the gateways are gateless; the sweet flowers blooming where armed feet used to tread; and men live securely without bolts and bars. But their spirits cannot yet
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God's Glory in Hiding Sin
A sermon (No. 2838) intended for reading on Lord's Day, July 5th 1903, delivered by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, on Lord's Day evening, July 15th, 1877. "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter."--Proverbs 25:2. The translation of our text, if it had been more literal, would have run thus, "It is the glory of God to cover a matter, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter." For the sake of variety in language
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Good News
A sermon (No. 2866) delivered on Thursday Evening, January 6th, 1876, by C.H. Spurgeon at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country."--Proverbs 25:25. This is a text for summertime rather than for a winter's evening. It is only on one of our hottest summer days that we could fully appreciate the illustration here employed; we need to be parched with thirst to be able to feel the value of cold waters to quench our thirst. At the same
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

That a Man Should not be a Curious Searcher of the Sacrament, but a Humble Imitator of Christ, Submitting his Sense to Holy Faith
The Voice of the Beloved Thou must take heed of curious and useless searching into this most profound Sacrament, if thou wilt not be plunged into the abyss of doubt. He that is a searcher of Majesty shall be oppressed by the glory thereof.(1) God is able to do more than man can understand. A pious and humble search after truth is to be allowed, when it is always ready to be taught, and striving to walk after the wholesome opinions of the fathers. 2. Blessed is the simplicity which leaveth alone
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Epistle xxxix. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). But what can be good news to me, so far as concerns the behoof of holy Church, but to hear of the health and safety of your to me most sweet Holiness, who, from your perception of the light of truth, both illuminate the same Church with the word of preaching, and mould it to a better way by the example of your manners? As often, too, as I recall in
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Epistle Xlii. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. We return great thanks to Almighty God, that in the mouth of the heart a sweet savour of charity is experienced, when that which is written is fulfilled, As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). For I had previously been greatly disturbed by a letter from Boniface the Chartularius, my responsalis, who dwells in the royal city, saying that your to me most sweet and pleasant Holiness had suffered
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Wherefore Christ Undertook a Method of Setting us Free So Painful and Laborious, when a Word from Him, or an Act of his Will, Would Alone
Wherefore Christ undertook a method of setting us free so painful and laborious, when a word from Him, or an act of His will, would alone have sufficed. 19. Then he labours to teach and persuade us that the devil could not and ought not to have claimed for himself any right over man, except by the permission of God, and that, without doing any injustice to the devil, God could have called back His deserter, if He wished to show him mercy, and have rescued him by a word only, as though any one denies
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

"Boast not Thyself of To-Morrow, for Thou Knowest not what a Day May Bring Forth. "
Prov. xxvii. 1.--"Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." There are some peculiar gifts that God hath given to man in his first creation, and endued his nature with, beyond other living creatures, which being rightly ordered and improved towards the right objects, do advance the soul of man to a wonderful height of happiness, that no other sublunary creature is capable of. But by reason of man's fall into sin, these are quite disordered and turned out of
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Love in the Old Covenant.
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another."-- John xiii. 34. In connection with the Holy Spirit's work of shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts, the question arises: What is the meaning of Christ's word, "A new commandment I give unto you"? How can He designate this natural injunction, "To love one another," a new commandment? This offers no difficulty to those who entertain the erroneous view that during His ministry on earth Christ established a new and higher religion,
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

How the Silent and the Talkative are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 15.) Differently to be admonished are the over-silent, and those who spend time in much speaking. For it ought to be insinuated to the over-silent that while they shun some vices unadvisedly, they are, without its being perceived, implicated in worse. For often from bridling the tongue overmuch they suffer from more grievous loquacity in the heart; so that thoughts seethe the more in the mind from being straitened by the violent guard of indiscreet silence. And for the most part they
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

God's Glory the Chief End of Man's Being
Rom. xi. 36.--"Of him and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever." And 1 Cor. x. 31--"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." All that men have to know, may be comprised under these two heads,--What their end is, and What is the right way to attain to that end? And all that we have to do, is by any means to seek to compass that end. These are the two cardinal points of a man's knowledge and exercise. Quo et qua eundum est,--Whither to go, and what way to go.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Christian Behavior
Being the fruits of true Christianity: Teaching husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, servants, etc., how to walk so as to please God. With a word of direction to all backsliders. Advertisement by the Editor This valuable practical treatise, was first published as a pocket volume about the year 1674, soon after the author's final release from his long and dangerous imprisonment. It is evident from the concluding paragraph that he considered his liberty and even his life to be still in a very
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The History Books
[Illustration: (drop cap T) Assyrian idol-god] Thus little by little the Book of God grew, and the people He had chosen to be its guardians took their place among the nations. A small place it was from one point of view! A narrow strip of land, but unique in its position as one of the highways of the world, on which a few tribes were banded together. All around great empires watched them with eager eyes; the powerful kings of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylonia, the learned Greeks, and, in later times,
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Ninth Commandment
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.' Exod 20: 16. THE tongue which at first was made to be an organ of God's praise, is now become an instrument of unrighteousness. This commandment binds the tongue to its good behaviour. God has set two natural fences to keep in the tongue, the teeth and lips; and this commandment is a third fence set about it, that it should not break forth into evil. It has a prohibitory and a mandatory part: the first is set down in plain words, the other
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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