New International Version
Proverbs 20:18
18Plans are established by seeking advice; so if you wage war, obtain guidance.
Proverbs 20:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Plans are established by counsel; By wise counsel wage war.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.
Context of Proverbs 20:18
16Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider. 17Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel. Plans are established by seeking advice; so if you wage war, obtain guidance. 19A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much. 20If someone curses their father or mother, their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.
Read all of Proverbs 20Proverbs 20:18 word by word
מַ֭חֲשָׁבוֹת בְּעֵצָ֣ה תִכּ֑וֹן וּ֝בְתַחְבֻּל֗וֹת עֲשֵׂ֣ה מִלְחָמָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 20:18
- Proverbs 15:22Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
- Proverbs 24:6Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers.
- Proverbs 25:8do not bring hastily to court, for what will you do in the end if your neighbor puts you to shame?
- Judges 1:1After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?”
- Judges 9:29If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, ‘Call out your whole army!’ ”
- Judges 20:7Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.”
- 2 Samuel 2:26Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?”
- 2 Chronicles 25:17After Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, he sent this challenge to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel: “Come, let us face each other in battle.”
- Luke 14:31“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
Commentaries on Proverbs 20:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18With good advice make war, - Perhaps there is not a precept in this whole book so little regarded as this. Most of the wars that are undertaken are wars of injustice, ambition, aggrandizement, and caprice, which can have had no previous good counsel. A minister, who is perhaps neither a good nor a great man, counsels his king to make war; the cabinet must be brought into it, and a sufficient number out of the states of the kingdom gained over to support…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18Verse 18 Especially we need advice in spiritual warfare. The word and Spirit of God are the best counsellors in every point.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. (Compare Pr 15:22). Be careful and considerate in important plans.Read the comment
Topics related to Proverbs 20:18
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
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