Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Proverbs 20:22 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 22. 22Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse uses contrastive parallelism to place “Say not thou, I will recompense evil” against “wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee”.
Read It With
- Proverbs 20:22–25
Proverbs 20:22–25 is the required frame for Proverbs 20:22. Here the saying uses contrastive parallelism to place “Say not thou, I will recompense evil” against “wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee”; its collection setting controls whether the words describe a pattern, warning, invitation, or bounded command.
Why This Verse Appears Here
At verse 20:22, Proverbs uses contrastive parallelism to place “Say not thou, I will recompense evil” against “wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee”. The line belongs to “Reverent accountability before the LORD — Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the...” and remains governed by the unit's source limits and misuse boundaries.
Follow the Context
- Opening (20:22): the unit uses contrastive parallelism to place “Say not thou, I will recompense evil” against “wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee”.
- Development (20:22–25): adjacent lines test reverent accountability before the LORD, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, instruction, correction, and formation through parallelism, contrast, motive, image, or consequence.
- Close (20:25): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry”, creating the next supported pause.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and...”
In plain language: reverent accountability before the LORD
This verse uses contrastive parallelism to place “Say not thou, I will recompense evil” against “wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee”.
Why it matters: This wording carries interpretive, pastoral, or misuse risk requiring the full unit and explicit limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The verse does not require silence, unsafe reconciliation, withdrawal of evidence, or passivity while abuse continues.
What Remains True
Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient. In Proverbs 20:22, that bounded truth is expressed through “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and...,” not through a promise detached from its literary form.
How It Can Shape Life
- Bring the decision under truthful worship, moral accountability, and correction rather than using religious language to shield preference or power. For Proverbs 20:22, preserve the sequence: verse role (uses contrastive parallelism to place “Say not thou, I will recompense evil” against “wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee”) -> contextual meaning in Proverbs 20:22–25 -> proportionate truth -> this accountable response.
Teach It Back
Explain Proverbs 20:22's exact role in Proverbs 20:22–25. Distinguish pattern from guarantee, include “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but...,” name one uncertainty, and explicitly reject one harmful use.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Proverbs 20:22–25 — Reverent accountability before the LORD — Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the...Sources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Waiting for the LORD rejects private vengeance; it does not forbid reporting harm, protecting others, seeking restitution, or using accountable legal processes.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: Proverbs 20:22–25, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Proverbs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 20:22-20:25
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Proverbs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
Exact location: NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1140-1144, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 20:22–25
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Proverbs
K. T. Aitken
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book and collection orientation, local commentary, social-setting proposals, and named interpretation limits.
Exact location: Aitken, ‘Proverbs,’ Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 405-422, subsection covering 20:22–25 and the First Solomonic sentence-saying collection outline
Open source ↗scholarly monograph chapter abstract and metadata
Context in the Sayings Collections
Stuart Weeks
Oxford University Press, in Early Israelite Wisdom, 2000
Supports: Abstract-level control for the dispute over individual-saying, small-cluster, and collection context; no uninspected detailed claim.
Exact location: Weeks, ‘Context in the Sayings Collections,’ Early Israelite Wisdom (2000), official abstract and chapter pp. 20-40; methodological question applied to Proverbs 20:22–25
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access journal article
Reading selected biblical proverbs in the light of corporal punishment in child upbringing
Helen C. Chukwuma
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 81.1, 2025
Supports: Literal, metaphorical, ancient-practice, modern-effect, and positive-discipline review without erasing the ancient physical wording.
Exact location: Chukwuma, HTS 81.1 (2025), pp. 3-5 on Proverbs 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14 and pp. 5-7 on positive discipline and safeguarding, as relevant to Proverbs 20:22–25
Open source ↗