Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 27:13 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: King James Version
" Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. "
Proverbs 27:13
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
11 My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth
12 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
13 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
14 He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse
15 A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
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This same warning appears earlier, in Proverbs 20:16. It shows who are rushing toward poverty, people who have so little good sense that they will go surety for anyone who asks, and people who waste their money on loose living. Such people will borrow as much as their credit allows, but they will surely cheat their creditors in the end. In truth, they are cheating them all along. An honest man may be brought to poverty, but a man is not honest if he brings himself there by careless living.
The verse also teaches us to be wise in handling our money, so we do not lend to people who are clearly wasting their estates unless they give very good security. Careless lending is unfair to our own families. It does not say, “Get someone else to back him,” because a man who makes himself a common guarantor will end up with helpers who are as unable to pay as he is. So take his garment, that is, require clear security before you lend.
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From This Chapter
Proverbs 27:1
"Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."
Proverbs 27:2
"Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."
Proverbs 27:3
"A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both."
Proverbs 27:4
"Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?"
Proverbs 27:5
"Open rebuke is better than secret love."
Proverbs 27:6
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
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