Feed your hungry enemy and give your thirsty enemy water to drink. Such kindness heaps burning coals on his head, and the LORD himself rewards the giver.
A grouped instruction on treating enemies begins: If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink (v. 21). The advice given in Proverbs 25:21-22 is concrete.
If your enemy is hungry. The verse assumes that enemies have real needs and that the wise man may be in a position to meet them. Hunger and thirst are basic. The wise man doesn't pretend not to see them.
Give him food to eat... give him water to drink. The acts are simple. The wise man does not lecture, demand a change of heart, or extract conditions. He simply provides what the enemy needs. The instruction is reaffirmed in Romans 12:20 by Paul, who quotes this passage directly.
Verse 22 names what the act produces: For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you (v. 22). Two outcomes are named.
Burning coals on his head is debated as an image. The most likely sense is that the kindness produces a burning sense of shame and conviction in the enemy, the kind of inner heat that may eventually move him to repentance. The picture portrays genuine kindness that, in the LORD's hand, often softens what hostility could not break.
The LORD will reward you. The wise man's part is to do the kindness; the outcome belongs to God. Whether the enemy repents or not, the LORD has watched and will reward the wise man's posture. Romans 12:21 closes the same instruction: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
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Proverbs 25:21-22 meaning
A grouped instruction on treating enemies begins: If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink (v. 21). The advice given in Proverbs 25:21-22 is concrete.
If your enemy is hungry. The verse assumes that enemies have real needs and that the wise man may be in a position to meet them. Hunger and thirst are basic. The wise man doesn't pretend not to see them.
Give him food to eat... give him water to drink. The acts are simple. The wise man does not lecture, demand a change of heart, or extract conditions. He simply provides what the enemy needs. The instruction is reaffirmed in Romans 12:20 by Paul, who quotes this passage directly.
Verse 22 names what the act produces: For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you (v. 22). Two outcomes are named.
Burning coals on his head is debated as an image. The most likely sense is that the kindness produces a burning sense of shame and conviction in the enemy, the kind of inner heat that may eventually move him to repentance. The picture portrays genuine kindness that, in the LORD's hand, often softens what hostility could not break.
The LORD will reward you. The wise man's part is to do the kindness; the outcome belongs to God. Whether the enemy repents or not, the LORD has watched and will reward the wise man's posture. Romans 12:21 closes the same instruction: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."