Proverbs 20:28

Mercy and truth keep a king; and his throne is made strong by meekness. (Fairness and faithfulness, or loyalty, keep a king safe and secure; and his throne is made strong by humility, or by righteousness.)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The King James Version

Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.

In Context

27The lantern of the Lord is the spirit of man, that seeketh out all the privates of the womb. (The spirit of people is the lantern of the Lord, and it seeketh out all our innermost secrets.)

29The full out joying of young men is the strength of them; and the dignity of eld men is hoariness. (The rejoicing, or the glory, of young men is their strength; and the dignity of old men is their white, or gray, hair.)

Read all of Proverbs 20

Cross References

Psalms 21:7For the king hopeth in the Lord; and in the mercy of the highest he shall not be moved. (For the king trusteth in the Lord; and by the love of the Most High, he shall not be moved, or shaken.)

Psalms 61:7He dwelleth [into] without end in the sight of God; who shall seek the mercy and truth of him? (He shall live before God forever; may thy love, and thy faithfulness, preserve, and protect him.)

Proverbs 3:3Mercy and truth forsake thee not; bind thou those to thy throat, and write them in the tables of thine heart. (Let not mercy and truth desert thee; bind thou them about thy neck, and write them on the tablets of thy heart.)

Proverbs 16:12They that do wickedly be abominable to the king; for the throne of the realm is made steadfast by rightfulness.

Isaiah 16:5And the king’s seat shall be made ready in mercy, and he shall sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, deeming, and seeking doom, and yielding swiftly that that is just. (And the king’s throne shall be prepared in mercy, and he shall sit on it in truth, in the house of David, judging, and seeking justice, and swiftly yielding what is just, or what is right.)

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 20:28

27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord , searching all the inward parts of the belly. We have here the dignity of the soul, the great soul of man, that light which lighteth every man. 1. It is a divine light; it is the candle of the Lord, a candle of his lighting, for it is the inspiration of the Almighty that gives us understanding. He forms the spirit of man within him. It is after the image of God that man is created in knowledge. Conscience, that noble faculty, is God's deputy in the soul; it is a… Read the whole commentary →

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