Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Proverbs

[Chris Christian]

That's all. What does Prov. 11:15 mean? What is it talking about?

[jimwalton]

"To put up security" for someone else means that one person offers to become legally liable for the debt of someone else. Suppose you wanted to buy a car but didn't have the money. So you took out a loan, but the bank wasn't sure you could pay it back. They would want someone else to sign with you, so if you defaulted on the loan, the bank could go after the other person. So what this verse is saying is that anybody who signs for another is sure to get burned by it sooner or later. They "will surely suffer." But if you refuse to participate in such business practices ("refuse to strike hands"), you'll be safer.

In those days it was illegal for an Israelite to charge interest on a loan to a fellow Israelite. If the guy was in bad enough shape to need a loan, someone should offer it interest-free. In those days loaning money was not a way to make money (off the interest), but only a way to help someone else. But that's almost a separate matter here.

Here the writer is saying if you put up security for another person, you take a risk that one day that will come back to haunt you, in other words, one of these days someone will default and you'll be stuck with a mess.