Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t you be one of those who strike hands, of those who are collateral for debts.
- KJV Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties 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 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 puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.
- Prov 17:18A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.
- Prov 6:1–5My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,
- Prov 27:13Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.
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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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