What Does Proverbs 27:13 Mean in the King James?
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
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 proverb makes a promise for another person tangible: the guarantor’s own garment can become the collateral.
THE MEANING
When you guarantee another person’s obligation, your own covering can be claimed for the debt. The verse carries that warning through both a stranger and a strange woman, making the cost of the guarantee concrete.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that taking responsibility for someone else’s debt carries no personal cost: the guarantor’s own security is at stake.
THE ROOT
עָרַב
ʿāraḇ
GROWS FROM
ע־ר־ב
To stand surety or pledge oneself as security.
“surety” in this verse is ʿāraḇ. The word names placing yourself behind another person’s obligation, not merely offering reassurance. A related noun means a pledge or deposit, making the garment in this verse a visible measure of what the guarantee can cost.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārēḇ: A guarantor; one who stands surety.
עָרֵב
It names the person who personally backs another’s obligation.
ʿērāḇôn: A pledge or security deposit.
עֵרָבוֹן
It shows the same root in the concrete security given to guarantee an obligation.
חַבְלֵהוּ
ḥablēhû
GROWS FROM
ח־ב־ל
To bind or take as security; to take a pledge.
The command rendered “take a pledge of him” carries the sense of holding something as security. A related word means cord, giving the pledge a binding quality: the debt reaches into what the guarantor owns and can lose.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāḇal: To take as a pledge or security.
חָבַל
This verb names the act demanded in the verse.
ḥeḇel: A cord or rope.
חֶבֶל
The shared root letters bring out the binding image beneath the act of holding collateral.
THE PATTERN
A guarantee can make the guarantor’s own security answer for someone else’s obligation.
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down: For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;THE THREAD
He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure.The Hebrew root עָרַב (ʿāraḇ), “to stand surety,” appears in both proverbs. Proverbs 27:13 shows the cost as a garment taken for security; this verse states the consequence of guaranteeing for a stranger directly.
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