English Standard Version
Proverbs 20:26
26A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the wheel over them.
Proverbs 20:26 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them.
- New International Version (NIV)A wise king winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them.
- New King James Version (NKJV)A wise king sifts out the wicked, And brings the threshing wheel over them.
- New Living Translation (NLT)A wise king scatters the wicked like wheat, then runs his threshing wheel over them.
Context of Proverbs 20:26
24A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way? 25It is a snare to say rashly, "It is holy," and to reflect only after making vows. A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the wheel over them. 27The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. 28Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king, and by steadfast love his throne is upheld.
Read all of Proverbs 20Proverbs 20:26 word by word
מְזָרֶ֣ה רְ֭שָׁעִים מֶ֣לֶךְ חָכָ֑ם וַיָּ֖שֶׁב עֲלֵיהֶ֣ם אוֹפָֽן׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 20:26
- Proverbs 20:8A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.
- 2 Samuel 4:9But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity,
- Psalms 101:5Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.
- 2 Samuel 12:31And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 28:27Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
Commentaries on Proverbs 20:26
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 26Bringeth the wheel over them - He threshes them in his anger, as the wheel does the grain on the threshing-floor. Every one knows that grain was separated from its husks, in Palestine, by the feet of the oxen trampling among the sheaves, or bringing a rough-shod wheel over them. Asiatic kings often threshed their people, to bring out their property; but this is not what is intended here.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 26The wheel - The threshing wheel Isaiah 28:27-28, which passes over the grain and separates the grain from the chaff. The proverb involves therefore the idea of the division of the good from the evil, no less than that of the punishment of the latter.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 26Verse 26 Justice should crush the wicked, and separate them from the virtuous.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 26A king represents God on earth, so he should help good people and punish wrongdoers.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2626. (Compare Pr 20:8). bringeth ... over them--The wheel was used for threshing grain. The figure denotes severity (compare Am 1:3).Read the comment
Topics related to Proverbs 20:26
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Proverbs 20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries