Proverbs 20:16 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Take his garment, &c. Namely, as a pledge, without which he ought not to be trusted, because, by the action referred to, he shows himself to be foolish, and takes the ready way to make himself a beggar; that is surety for a stranger A person unknown to him; and a pledge of him who is surety for a strange woman For a harlot, so called chap. 2:16, and elsewhere. “It is rank folly,” says Bishop Patrick, in his interpretation of this verse, “to trust him, who is so rash as to be bound for one, whose ability and fidelity are utterly unknown to him; especially for a woman, whose loose way of life makes her credit justly suspected: therefore, have nothing to do with such an inconsiderate person, without the utmost security that he can give thee, for the payment of what he owes thee.”