What Does Proverbs 20:6 Mean in the King James?
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew contrasts love a person can proclaim with steadiness another person has to be able to find.
THE MEANING
The question presses on the gap between a person’s announced love and the steadiness another can actually find in them. Reliability takes shape in lived relationship; self-description alone cannot establish it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Calling myself loving or trustworthy does not by itself make me dependable; the verse distinguishes the claim from the character another person can find.
THE ROOT
אֱמוּנִים
emunim
GROWS FROM
אמן
To be firm, steady, and reliable.
The word names steadiness that can be relied on, not a self-issued moral title. Beside חֶסֶד (chesed: faithful love), it distinguishes love announced from reliability another person can actually lean on.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Trust: leaning your full weight on what is firm.
אֱמוּנָה
The steady person is someone whose character can bear another’s reliance.
ne'eman: Reliable, trustworthy, firm.
נֶאֱמָן
This related form makes the verse’s question concrete: can this person be found reliable?
amen: Truly; a response affirming what is firm.
אָמֵן
Even the familiar word Amen carries the root’s sense of something established and dependable.
חַסְדּוֹ
chasdo
GROWS FROM
חסד
Faithful love expressed through devoted kindness and loyalty in relationship.
The English “goodness” can sound like general virtue; the Hebrew is חֶסֶד (chesed: faithful love), a relational loyalty. The contrast is between loudly claiming that love as one’s own and being someone whose steadiness makes it tangible.
ALSO GROWS
chesed: Faithful love; loyal kindness within a relationship.
חֶסֶד
This is the quality the person proclaims as their own.
chasid: A devoted or loyal person, characterized by faithful love.
חָסִיד
The verse shifts from naming one’s own love to asking whether a dependable person can actually be found.
THE PATTERN
Character becomes recognizable through reliable fruit and action, not self-description.
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.THE THREAD
O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.Both verses use אֱמוּנִים (emunim: the steady and reliable) for those called “the faithful.” Proverbs asks who can find such a person; the Psalm speaks of the LORD preserving them, holding rarity together with presence.
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