Don’t you be one of those who strike hands, of those who are collateral for debts.
Parallel translations
- KJV Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
- BSB Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.
- ESV Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.
- NKJV Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge, One of those who is surety for debts;
- NASB ¶Do not be among those who shake hands, Among those who become guarantors for debts.
- NLT Don’t agree to guarantee another person’s debt or put up security for someone else.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
Do not rashly pledge yourself as security for another's debts.
Overview
Proverbs repeatedly cautions against putting up surety, taking on financial liability one cannot control. "Striking hands" was the gesture sealing such a guarantee. The concern is not stinginess but prudence, avoiding obligations that can ruin a household; generosity is to be wise as well as warm (Prov. 6:1-5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Prov 11:15He who is collateral for a stranger will suffer for it, but he who refuses pledges of collateral is secure.
- Prov 17:18A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes collateral in the presence of his neighbor.
- Prov 6:1–5My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;
- Prov 27:13Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman!
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 22:26 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
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