--- title: "Proverbs 20 - Study King James Bible with the biblical illustrator" description: "Read Proverbs 20 with the biblical illustrator commentary. 1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. 2 The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoke" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20" --- [ Read](/kjv/proverbs/20)[ Commentary](/study/proverbs/20)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/proverbs/20) Audio 1 Wine *is* a mocker, strong drink *is* raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. 2 The fear of a king *is* as the roaring of a lion: *whoso* provoketh him to anger sinneth *against* his own soul. 3 *It is* an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. 4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; *therefore* shall he beg in harvest, and *have* nothing.* 5 Counsel in the heart of man *is like* deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out. 6 Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?* 7 The just *man* walketh in his integrity: his children *are* blessed after him. 8 A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes. 9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? 10 Divers weights, *and* divers measures, both of them *are* alike abomination to the LORD.** 11 Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work *be* pure, and whether *it be* right. 12 The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them. 13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, *and* thou shalt be satisfied with bread. 14 *It is* naught, *it is* naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. 15 There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge *are* a precious jewel. 16 Take his garment that is surety *for* a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. 17 Bread of deceit *is* sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.* 18 *Every* purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war. 19 He that goeth about *as* a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.* 20 Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.* 21 An inheritance *may be* gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. 22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; *but* wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee. 23 Divers weights *are* an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance *is* not good.* 24 Man’s goings *are* of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way? 25 *It is* a snare to the man *who* devoureth *that which is* holy, and after vows to make enquiry. 26 A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them. 27 The spirit of man *is* the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.* 28 Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy. 29 The glory of young men *is* their strength: and the beauty of old men *is* the gray head. 30 The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so *do* stripes the inward parts of the belly.* [Proverbs 19](/study/proverbs/19) [Proverbs 21](/study/proverbs/21) ## Commentary To verse 1 [Proverbs 20:1](/kjv/proverbs/20/1) *Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.* ** **The evil effects of drunkenness** ** I.**It deadens every moral sensibility. And what is the evidence of the drunkard himself? On his own declaration, are the principles of virtue as vigorous in his heart now as before? Is he as sensible of delight in contemplating the morally sublime, as much shocked with the morally deformed, as much grieved and disgusted with the depraved and licentious? ** II.**It impairs every intellectual faculty. ** III.**It accelerates death. ** IV.**It entails misery on families. ** V.**It terminates in everlasting destruction ([1 Corinthians 6:10](/kjv/1-corinthians/6/10)). (*The Weekly Christian Teacher.*) **Strong drink deceptive** The characteristic of strong drink is deceitfulness, **1.**A great quantity of precious food is destroyed that strong drink may be extracted from the rubbish. **2.**The curative and strengthening properties of our strong drinks, which are so much vaunted, are in reality next to nothing. **3.**Strong drink deceives the nation by the vast amount of revenue that it pours into the public treasury. **4.**In as far as human friendship is, in any case, dependent on artificial stimulant for the degree of its fervency, it is a worthless counterfeit. **5.**Its chief deception lies in the silent, stealthy advances which it makes upon the unsuspecting taster, followed, when the secret approaches have been carried to a certain point, by the sure spring and deathly grip of the raging lion. (*W. Arnot, D. D.*) **Mischief and folly of drunkenness** ** I.**The mischief. To the sinner himself. It mocks him, makes a fool of him, promises him that satisfaction which it can never give him. In reflection upon it: it rages in his conscience. It is raging in the body, putting the humours into a ferment. Pretending to be a sociable thing, it renders men unfit for society, for it makes them abusive with their tongues and outrageous in their passions. ** II.**The folly. He that is deceived thereby, that suffers himself to be drawn into this sin, when he is so plainly warned of the consequences of it, is not wise: he shows that he has no right sense or consideration of things; and not only so, but he renders himself incapable of getting wisdom; for it is a sin that infatuates and besets men and takes away their heart. (*Matthew Henry.*) **Total abstinence** The**following story is told of General Harrison, one of the candidates for the Presidency of the United States, in connection with a public dinner given him on one occasion: “At the close of the dinner one of the gentlemen drank his health. The General pledged his toast by drinking water. Another gentleman offered a toast, and said, ‘General, will you not favour me by taking s glass of wine?’ The General, in a very gentlemanly way, begged to be excused. He was again urged to join in a glass of wine. This was too much. He rose from his seat and said in the most dignified manner: ‘Gentlemen, I have twice refused to partake of the wine-cup. I hope that will be sufficient. Though you press the matter ever so much, not a drop shall pass my lips. I made a resolve when I started in life that I would avoid strong drink. That vow I have never broken. I am one of a class of seventeen young men who graduated together. The other sixteen members of my class now fill drunkards’ graves, and all from the pernicious habit of wine-drinking. I owe all my health, my happiness, and prosperity to that resolution. Would you urge me to break it now?’” **Better sink than drink** A**clergyman complained to the late Sir Andrew Clark of feeling low and depressed, unable to face his work, and tempted to rely on stimulants. Sir Andrew saw that the position was a perilous one, and that it was a crisis in the man’s life. He dealt with the case, and forbade resort to stimulants, when the patient declared that he would be unequal to his work, and ready to sink. “Then,” said Sir Andrew, “sink like a man.” **Abstinence favourable to health** The**working man’s capital is health, not wealth. It does not consist in landed property, but in sinew and muscle; and if he persist in the use of intoxicating liquors they will strike at the very root of his capital--a sound physical constitution. After this is lost he becomes unfit for the workshop, for no master will employ a man who wants capital. He has then to repair to the poorhouse or infirmary. (*J. Hunter.*) **Water the best drink** “The best of all drinks for the athlete,” says Dr. Richardson, “is pure water. The athletic lower animals--the racehorse, the hound, the****lion, the leopard--thrive well on water, because their bodies, like our own, are water engines, as steam engines are, and that, too, almost as simply and purely.” ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20","name":"Proverbs 20 - Study King James Bible with the biblical illustrator","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Proverbs 20 with the biblical illustrator commentary. 1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. 2 The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoke","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator","name":"the biblical illustrator"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs","name":"Proverbs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/20","name":"20"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```