Proverbs 20 · Verse 18

Proverbs 20:18

Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.
Proverbs 20:18, King James Version

Proverbs 20:18 in other translations

BSBSet plans by consultation, and wage war under sound guidance.
WEBPlans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!
ASVEvery purpose is established by counsel; And by wise guidance make thou war.
YLTPurposes by counsel thou dost establish, And with plans make thou war.
DARBYPlans are established by counsel; and with good advice make war.
BBEEvery purpose is put into effect by wise help: and by wise guiding make war.
WebsterEvery purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.

What does Proverbs 20:18 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
18. (Compare Pr 15:22). Be careful and considerate in important plans.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 18 With good advice make war, - Perhaps there is not a precept in this whole book so little regarded as this. Most of the wars that are undertaken are wars of injustice, ambition, aggrandizement, and caprice, which can have had no previous good counsel. A minister, who is perhaps neither a good nor a great man, counsels his king to make war; the cabinet must be brought into it, and a sufficient number out of the states of the kingdom gained over to support it. By and by, what was begun through caprice must be maintained through necessity. Places must be created, and offices must be filled with needy dependents, whose interest it may be to protract the war, till they get enough to pay their debts, and secure independence for life. And for these most important ends the blood of the country is spilled, and the treasures of the people exhausted! I have met with a fact precisely of this kind under the reign of Louis XIV.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
Especially we need advice in spiritual warfare. The word and Spirit of God are the best counsellors in every point.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Proverbs 20:18 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

מַ֭חֲשָׁבוֹתMa.cha.sha.VotplansH4284
בְּעֵצָ֣הbe.'e.Tzahby counselH6098
תִכּ֑וֹןti.Konit is establishedH3559
וּ֝בְתַחְבֻּל֗וֹתu.ve.tach.bu.Lotand by wise directionsH8458
עֲשֵׂ֣ה'a.SehmakeH6213
מִלְחָמָֽה\׃mil.cha.MahwarH4421

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Proverbs 20:18

  • Luke 14:31

    Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

  • Proverbs 24:6

    For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

  • Proverbs 15:22

    Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

  • Judges 1:1-2

    Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

  • Proverbs 11:14

    Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

  • Judges 20:18

    And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first.

  • 2 Samuel 2:26-27

    Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren? And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.

  • Judges 20:7

    Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.

  • 2 Chronicles 25:17-23

    Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face. And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom. …

  • Proverbs 25:8

    Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.

  • Judges 9:29

    And would to God this people were under my hand! then would I remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thine army, and come out.

  • Judges 20:26-28

    Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
purpose.
15:22; 24:6
and.
25:8; Jud 1:1,2; 9:29; 20:7,18,23,26-28; 2Sa 2:26,27; 2Ch 25:17-23
Lu 14:31

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Proverbs 20:17

    Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

  • Proverbs 20:18

    Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.

  • Proverbs 20:19

    He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.

Read all of Proverbs 20

Proverbs 20:18 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Los pensamientos con el consejo se ordenan: y con industria se hace la guerra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Les plans s’affermissent par le conseil; et fais la guerre avec prudence.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Pläne kommen durch Beratung zustande, und mit weiser Überlegung führe Krieg.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Cogitationes consiliis roborantur, et gubernaculis tractanda sunt bella.