Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Proverbs 20:23 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 23. 23Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse uses two-part parallelism to place “Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD” beside “and a false balance is not good”.
Read It With
- Proverbs 20:22–25
Proverbs 20:23 belongs to “Reverent accountability before the LORD — Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the....” It uses two-part parallelism to place “Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD” beside “and a false balance is not good”. Read the adjacent sayings and the collection heading before moving from observation to application.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This verse uses two-part parallelism to place “Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD” beside “and a false balance is not good”. This contributes necessary evidence to “Reverent accountability before the LORD — Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the...,” where reverent accountability before the LORD, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, instruction, correction, and formation are read together without erasing the sentence saying's own force.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false...”
In plain language: reverent accountability before the LORD
This verse uses two-part parallelism to place “Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD” beside “and a false balance is not good”.
Why it matters: This wording gives the verse its distinct role inside the cluster.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient. In Proverbs 20:23, that bounded truth is expressed through “Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false...,” 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 20:23, preserve the sequence: verse role (uses two-part parallelism to place “Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD” beside “and a false balance is not good”) -> contextual meaning in Proverbs 20:22–25 -> proportionate truth -> this accountable response.
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? strong
Where care is needed
This sentence saying states a context-shaped moral pattern. Its small-cluster boundary and degree of generality remain reviewable; exceptional outcomes do not make the observation meaningless or turn it into a guarantee.
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 ↗