Proverbs 20:25
It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows.
World Messianic Bible
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
24A man’s steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?
26A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.
Cross References
Leviticus 5:15“If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly regarding the LORD’s holy things, then he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation in silver by shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.
Leviticus 27:9“‘If it is an animal of which men offer an offering to the LORD, all that any man gives of such to the LORD becomes holy.
Numbers 30:2When a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Deuteronomy 23:23You shall observe and do that which has gone out of your lips. Whatever you have vowed to the LORD your God as a free will offering, which you have promised with your mouth, you must do.
Judges 21:22It shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we didn’t take for each man his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them; otherwise you would now be guilty.’”
Ecclesiastes 5:2Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your 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 →