A wise king sifts out the wicked, And brings the threshing wheel over them.
Parallel translations
- WEB A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.
- KJV A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them.
- BSB A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.
- NASB A wise king scatters the wicked, And drives a threshing wheel over them.
- NLT A wise king scatters the wicked like wheat, then runs his threshing wheel over them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A wise king sifts out the wicked and decisively deals with them. It matters because just rule requires separating and punishing evil.
Overview
Using imagery of winnowing and threshing, the proverb depicts a discerning ruler who identifies the wicked and executes judgment. Such justice protects the righteous and upholds order (Proverbs 20:8; 25:4-5). It foreshadows Christ, who at the final harvest separates wheat from chaff in perfect righteousness (Matthew 3:12).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Prov 20:8A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.
- 2 Sam 12:31He brought out the people who were in it, and put them under saws, under iron picks, under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln; and he did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
- Isa 28:27–28For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod.
- 2 Sam 4:9–12David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
- Ps 101:5–8I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 20:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.