What Does Proverbs 20:25 Mean?
It is a snare to a man who gulps down what is set apart, and after vows, looks back.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.THE KEY
When you take what is set apart into a vow before weighing its cost, the vow can become the snare.
THE MEANING
Your words can bind you to something sacred before you have fully considered what the commitment asks of you. When you examine the vow only afterward, the pledge itself can become a trap.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A promise is harmless because you can decide later whether it binds you.
THE ROOT
נְדָרִים
nedarim
GROWS FROM
נדר
To vow, making a solemn commitment.
“vows” in this verse is nedarim. The same root names both the act of vowing and the vow that results. The verse’s warning turns on that connection: words spoken as a commitment become something you are bound to carry.
ALSO GROWS
nadar: to vow
נָדַר
This is the act of making the commitment that the verse says can become a snare.
neder: a vow or pledge
נֶדֶר
The spoken act takes shape as a binding promise, which is why examining it only afterward carries weight.
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart, mark as distinct for a sacred purpose.
The holy is what has been set apart. This root makes the verse’s stakes clearer: the vow touches something treated as belonging to a distinct, sacred sphere, not something casually taken back.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: set apart, sacred
קָדוֹשׁ
It names the quality of what is set apart, clarifying what the vow touches.
miqdash: sanctuary, a set-apart place
מִקְדָּשׁ
It shows the same root describing a place reserved for the sacred.
מוֹקֵשׁ
moqesh
GROWS FROM
יקש
To lay a snare or entrap.
The root connects the act of trapping with the trap itself. Here, the snare is not separate from the person’s words: a vow made before reflection can take the shape of the trap.
ALSO GROWS
yaqash: to lay a snare, entrap
יָקַשׁ
The verb shows the action behind the trap named in the verse.
moqesh: snare, trap
מוֹקֵשׁ
The noun names the resulting entrapment that the vow can become.
THE PATTERN
Words spoken to bind a promise carry a real obligation once they are spoken.
When you vow a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not linger to make it whole, for the LORD your God will surely seek it from you, and it would be a shortcoming in you.Better that you not vow than that you vow and do not make it whole.But let your word be, Yes, yes; No, no. For whatever is more than these comes from evil.THE THREAD
When you vow a vow to God, do not linger to make it whole. For there is no delight in the thick-headed. Make whole what you have vowed.Proverbs and Ecclesiastes share the Hebrew root נדר (n-d-r; nadar), meaning to vow, in both the act of vowing and the vow itself. Ecclesiastes makes the weight of that connection plain: once spoken, the vow is a commitment to fulfill.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us