myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Proverbs 24:11–12

"Deliver them that are drawn unto death"

"If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it?" The witnesses agree in substance (the Greek and Latin make v. 11 a direct command: "Deliver those led to death"). The saying makes failure to rescue a moral failure, and rejects the excuse of not knowing.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

      The proverb as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

    2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

      Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Erue eos qui ducuntur ad mortem, et qui trahuntur ad interitum, liberare ne cesses. Si dixeris: Vires non suppetunt; qui inspector est cordis ipse intelligit: et servatorem animæ tuæ nihil fallit, reddetque homini juxta opera sua.

      Latin position: Proverbs 24:11–12. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398).

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      הַ֭צֵּל לְקֻחִ֣ים לַמָּ֑וֶת וּמָטִ֥ים לַ֝הֶ֗רֶג אִם־תַּחְשֽׂוֹךְ׃ כִּֽי־תֹאמַ֗ר הֵן֮ לֹא־יָדַ֢עְנ֫וּ זֶ֥ה הֲ‍ֽלֹא־תֹ֘כֵ֤ן לִבּ֨וֹת ׀ הֽוּא־יָבִ֗ין וְנֹצֵ֣ר נַ֭פְשְׁךָ ה֣וּא יֵדָ֑ע וְהֵשִׁ֖יב לְאָדָ֣ם כְּפָעֳלֽוֹ׃

      Rescue those taken to death, and those staggering to the slaughter, if you hold back… (v. 11). If you say, 'Look, we did not know this,' does not he who weighs hearts perceive it? (v. 12)

      Hebrew position: Proverbs 24:11–12.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Proverbs

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Délivre ceux que l’on conduit à la mort; rachète ceux qu’on va faire mourir, et n’y épargne pas tes soins. Si tu dis: Je ne connais pas cet homme; sache que Dieu connaît tous les cœurs; celui qui a donné le souffle à tous, sait toutes choses, et il rétribue chacun selon ses œuvres.

      Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 24:11–12. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). In chapters 24–31 the Greek follows a different order of collections, which the digital file squeezes into Hebrew slots; the matching line was found by content. No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.

    What changed, and why

    Who are those "taken to death" (lequchim lammavet)? Possibly people condemned unjustly in court, captives, or anyone in mortal danger. The text does not specify, which gives the saying wide application. Verse 12 answers the bystander's excuse ("we knew it not") with God who "weighs hearts" and "keeps thy soul" and "shall render to every man according to his works" (quoted in Romans 2:6; Psalm 62:12).

    Jewish law developed a duty to rescue from Leviticus 19:16 ("neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour"; Sanhedrin 73a). In the 20th century the verse was cited by those who rescued Jews in the Holocaust and by Dietrich Bonhoeffer's circle. These are later applications; the proverb itself does not define legal duties.

    The library's Hebrew begins with the imperative hatsel ("deliver!") followed by "if you hold back"; the Greek and Vulgate read the whole as a command.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe library's witnesses agree on the sense of 24:11–12.
    • Strongly supportedRomans 2:6 echoes 24:12.
    • Conflicts with current evidenceProverbs 24:11 defines specific modern legal duties.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Proverbs 24: Rescue Them That Are Drawn unto Death →Proverbs 24 completes "the words of the wise" (vv. 1–22) and adds a short appendix: "These things also belong to the wise" (vv. 23–34). The first part warns against envy of evildoers (vv. 1–2, 19–20), praises wisdom that builds a house (vv. 3–4) and counsel in war (vv. 5–6), and commands: "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death… doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it?" (vv. 11–12). "A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again" (v. 16). Do not gloat when an enemy falls (vv. 17–18). The appendix condemns partiality in court (vv. 23–25) and ends with a scene: a vineyard overgrown with thorns, the stone wall broken down, and the lesson of the sluggard (vv. 30–34).