Proverbs 20:26 (BSB)

A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.

From Proverbs 20. Also in the ESV.

Commentary on Proverbs 20:26

• Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Proverbs 20:26: See here, 1. What is the business of magistrates. They are to be a terror to evil-doers. They must scatter the wicked, who are linked in confederacies to assist and embolden one another in doing mischief; and there is no doing this but by bringing the wheel over them, that is, putting the laws in execution against them, crushing their power and quashing their projects.
• John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Proverbs 20:26: A wise king scattereth the wicked,.... Or "fans them away" (i); separates them from his good counsellors, courtiers, and subjects; scatters them from his presence and court, and breaks their counsels and confederacies one with another; he discovers, discountenances, and discourages them; See Gill on Pro 20:8; and bringeth the wheel over them; alluding to the custom of the eastern nations turning a cart wheel...
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (Reformed), Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible on Proverbs 20:26: (Compare Pro 20:8). bringeth . . . over them--The wheel was used for threshing grain. The figure denotes severity (compare Amo 1:3).
• Geneva Bible Notes (Reformed), Geneva Bible Study Notes on Proverbs 20:26: A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them. (h) Which was a kind of punishment then used.