Proverbs 20:25
It is a snare to a man to sanctify things hastily, and to make inquiry only after having made vows.
Leeser Tanakh
In The King James Version
It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.
In Context
24From the Lord are the steps of man [ordained]; but man— how can he understand his own way?
26A wise king scattereth the wicked, and turneth over them the threshing-wheel.
Cross References
Leviticus 5:15If any person commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, against the holy things of the Lord: then shall he bring as his trespass-offering unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, in value of two shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass-offering.
Leviticus 27:9And if it he a beast, whereof men can bring an offering unto the Lord, all that a man giveth of such unto the Lord shall be holy.
Numbers 30:2(30:3) If a man make a vow unto the Lord, or he swear an oath to bind his soul with an obligation: he shall not profane his word; according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth shall he do.
Deuteronomy 23:23(23:24) What is gone out of thy lips shalt thou keep and perform, as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God voluntarily, as thou hast spoken with thy mouth.
Judges 21:22And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to contend with us, that we will say unto them, Be favorable unto them for our sakes; because we took not for each man his wife in the war; [and] because ye yourselves did not give them unto them, that ye should at this time be guilty.
Ecclesiastes 5:2(5:1) Suffer not thy mouth to be rash, and let thy heart not be hasty to utter any word before God; for God is in the heavens, and thou art upon the earth: therefore let thy words be few.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 20:25
24 Man's goings are of the Lord ; how can a man then understand his own way? We are here taught that in all our affairs, 1. We have a necessary and constant dependence upon God. All our natural actions depend upon his providence, all our spiritual actions upon his grace. The best man is no better than God makes him; and every creature is that to us which it is the will of God that it should be. Our enterprises succeed, not as we desire and design, but as God directs and disposes. The goings even of a strong man… Read the whole commentary →