Proverbs 20:16 (BSB)

Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

From Proverbs 20. Also in the ESV.

Commentary on Proverbs 20:16

• Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Proverbs 20:16: Two sorts of persons are here spoken of that are ruining their own estates, and will be beggars shortly, and therefore are not to be trusted with any good security: - 1. Those that will be bound for any body that will ask them, that entangle themselves in rash suretiship to oblige their idle companions; they will break at last, nay, they cannot hold out long; these waste by wholesale.
• John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Proverbs 20:16: Take his garment that is surety for a stranger,.... Which a man is cautioned against, Pro 6:1; but if a man will be so weak and foolish, others ought to take care of him, and be cautious how they trust him; for he is in danger of being ruined by his suretyship, and therefore nothing should be lent him without a pledge, without a proper...
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (Reformed), Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible on Proverbs 20:16: Take his garment--implies severe exaction, justified by the surety's rashness. a strange woman--by some readings "strangers," but the former here, and in Pro 27:13, is allowable, and strengthens the sense. The debauchee is less reliable than the merely careless.
• Geneva Bible Notes (Reformed), Geneva Bible Study Notes on Proverbs 20:16: Take his garment that is surety [for] a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. (f) Teach him wit, that he cast not himself rashly into danger.