Proverbs 20:16
New International Version
Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.

New Living Translation
Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.

English Standard Version
Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners.

Berean Standard Bible
Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

King James Bible
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

New King James Version
Take the garment of one who is surety for a stranger, And hold it as a pledge when it is for a seductress.

New American Standard Bible
Take his garment when he becomes guarantor for a stranger; And for foreigners, seize a pledge from him.

NASB 1995
Take his garment when he becomes surety for a stranger; And for foreigners, hold him in pledge.

NASB 1977
Take his garment when he becomes surety for a stranger; And for foreigners, hold him in pledge.

Legacy Standard Bible
Take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger; And for foreigners, hold him in pledge.

Amplified Bible
[The judge tells the creditor], “Take the clothes of one who is surety for a stranger; And hold him in pledge [when he guarantees a loan] for foreigners.”

Christian Standard Bible
Take his garment, for he has put up security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for foreigners.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Take his garment, for he has put up security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for foreigners.

American Standard Version
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; And hold him in pledge that is surety for foreigners.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Take the cloak of one that pledges security for a foreigner, and for the sake of foreigners take his pledge.

Contemporary English Version
You deserve to lose your coat if you loan it to someone to guarantee payment for the debt of a stranger.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Take away the garment of him that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge from him for strangers.

English Revised Version
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; and hold him in pledge that is surety for strangers.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Hold on to the garment of one who guarantees a stranger's loan, and hold responsible the person who makes a loan on behalf of a foreigner.

Good News Translation
Anyone stupid enough to promise to be responsible for a stranger's debts ought to have their own property held to guarantee payment.

International Standard Version
Take the garment of anyone who puts up collateral for a stranger; hold it in pledge if he does it for an unfamiliar woman.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; And hold him in pledge that is surety for an alien woman.

Literal Standard Version
When a stranger has been guarantor, take his garment, | And pledge it for strangers.

Majority Standard Bible
Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

New American Bible
Take the garment of the one who became surety for a stranger; if for foreigners, exact the pledge!

NET Bible
Take a man's garment when he has given security for a stranger, and when he gives surety for strangers, hold him in pledge.

New Revised Standard Version
Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

New Heart English Bible
Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.

Webster's Bible Translation
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

World English Bible
Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.

Young's Literal Translation
Take his garment when a stranger hath been surety, And for strangers pledge it.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Wine is a Mocker
15There is an abundance of gold and rubies, but lips of knowledge are a rare treasure. 16Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner. 17Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.…

Cross References
Exodus 22:26
If you take your neighbor's cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,

Proverbs 6:1
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,

Proverbs 20:15
There is an abundance of gold and rubies, but lips of knowledge are a rare treasure.

Proverbs 20:17
Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.

Proverbs 22:27
If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

Proverbs 27:13
Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.


Treasury of Scripture

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

take his

Proverbs 11:15
He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure.

Proverbs 22:26,27
Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts…

Proverbs 27:13
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

strange

Proverbs 2:16
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

Proverbs 5:3
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

Proverbs 7:5,10
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words…

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Alien Clothing Collateral Foreigners Garment Gives Hold Makes Pledge Puts Responsible Security Strange Stranger Surety Undertaking Wayward
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Alien Clothing Collateral Foreigners Garment Gives Hold Makes Pledge Puts Responsible Security Strange Stranger Surety Undertaking Wayward
Proverbs 20
1. Proper Living














(16) Take his garment that is surety for a stranger.--Another warning against suretiship. (See above on Proverbs 6:1.) If a man is rash enough to become surety for another, he must suffer for his imprudence, and learn wisdom by feeling the effects of his folly.

And take a pledge of him for a strange woman.--Rather, take him as a pledge (seize upon his person who has become surety) for a strange woman, (according to the margin) or, for strangers (as the text reads).

Verse 16. - Take his garment that is surety for a stranger. The maxim is repeated in Proverbs 27:13; and warnings against suretyship are found in Proverbs 6:1, etc.; Proverbs 11:15; 17:18; 22:26, etc. The second portion of the clause is translated also, "For he is surety for another." If a man is so weak and foolish as to become security for any one, and is unable to make good his engaged payment, let him lose his garment which the creditor would seize; his imprudence must bring its own punishment. And take a pledge of him for a strange woman. The Authorized Version probably adopts this rendering in conformity with Proverbs 27:13, where it occurs in the text, as here in the margin (the Keri). But the Khetib has, "for strangers," which seems to be the original reading; and the first words ought to be translated, "hold him in pledge;" i.e. seize his person for the sake of the strangers for whom he has stood security, so as not to suffer loss from them. The Law endeavoured to secure lending to needy brethren without interest (see Psalm 15:5; Ezekiel 18:8, 13, etc.; Ezekiel 22:12): but it allowed the creditor to secure himself by taking pledges of his debtor, while it regulated this system so as to obviate most of its severity and oppressiveness (see the restrictions in Exodus 22:26, etc.; Deuteronomy 24:6, 12, etc.). "Where the debtor possessed nothing which he could pledge, he gave the personal security of a friend. This was a very formal proceeding. The surety gave his hand both to the debtor and to the creditor before an assembly legally convened, he deposited a pledge, and, in accordance with this twofold promise, was regarded by the creditor in just the same light as the debtor himself, and treated accordingly. If the debtor, or in his place the surety, was unable to pay the debt when it fell due, he was entirely at the mercy of the creditor. The authorities troubled themselves but little about these relations, and the law, so far as it is preserved to us, gave no directions in the matter. We see, however, from many allusions and narratives, what harsh forms these relations actually took, especially in later times, when the ancient national brotherly love which the Law presupposed was more and more dying out. The creditor could not only forcibly appropriate all the movable, but also the fixed property, including the hereditary estate (this at least till its redemption in the year of jubilee), nay, he could even (if he could find nothing else of value) carry off as a prisoner the body of his debtor, or of his wife and child, to employ them in his service, though this could only he done for a definite period" (Ewald, 'Antiquities,' p. 184, etc., transl.).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Take
לְֽקַח־ (lə·qaḥ-)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 3947: To take

the garment
בִּ֭גְדוֹ (biḡ·ḏōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 899: A covering, clothing, treachery, pillage

of the one
כִּי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

who posts security
עָ֣רַב (‘ā·raḇ)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6148: To braid, intermix, technically, to traffic, give to be security

for a stranger;
זָ֑ר (zār)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2114: To turn aside, to be a, foreigner, strange, profane, to commit adultery

get collateral
חַבְלֵֽהוּ׃ (ḥaḇ·lê·hū)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 2254: To wind tightly, to bind, a pledge, to pervert, destroy, to writhe in pain

if it is for
וּבְעַ֖ד (ū·ḇə·‘aḏ)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 1157: In up to, over against, at, beside, among, behind, for

a wayward woman.
נָכְרִיָּ֣ה (nā·ḵə·rî·yāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 5237: Foreign, alien


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 20:16 Take the garment of one who puts (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 20:15
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