
Text -- Proverbs 14:20 (NET)




Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics



collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Wesley -> Pro 14:20
Despised and abandoned.
JFB -> Pro 14:20
JFB: Pro 14:20 - -- This sad but true picture of human nature is not given approvingly, but only as a fact.
This sad but true picture of human nature is not given approvingly, but only as a fact.
Clarke -> Pro 14:20
Clarke: Pro 14:20 - -- But the rich hath many friends - Many who speak to him the language of friendship; but if they profess friendship because he is rich, there is not o...
But the rich hath many friends - Many who speak to him the language of friendship; but if they profess friendship because he is rich, there is not one real friend among them. There is a fine saying of Cicero on this subject: Ut hirundines festivo tempore praesto sunt, frigore pulsae recedunt: ita falsi amici sereno tempore praesto sunt: simul atque fortunae hiemem viderint, evolant omnes - Lib. iv., ad Herenn. "They are like swallows, who fly off during the winter, and quit our cold climates; and do not return till the warm season: but as soon as the winter sets in, they are all off again."So Horace: -
Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos:
Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes
"As long as thou art prosperous, thou shalt have many friends: but who of them will regard thee when thou hast lost thy wealth?"
TSK -> Pro 14:20
TSK: Pro 14:20 - -- poor : Pro 10:15, Pro 19:7; Job 6:21-23, Job 19:13, Job 19:14, Job 30:10
but : Pro 19:4, Pro 19:6; Est 3:2, Est 5:10, Est 5:11
the rich hath many frie...

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Pro 14:20
Barnes: Pro 14:20 - -- The maxim, jarring as it is, represents the generalization of a wide experience; but the words which follow Pro 14:21 show that it is not to be take...
The maxim, jarring as it is, represents the generalization of a wide experience; but the words which follow Pro 14:21 show that it is not to be taken by itself. In spite of all the selfish morality of mere prudence, the hearer is warned that to despise his "neighbor"(Christians must take the word in all the width given to it by the parable of the Good Samaritan) is to sin. The fullness of blessing comes on him who sees in the poor the objects of his mercy.
Poole -> Pro 14:20
Poole: Pro 14:20 - -- Is hated i.e. despised and abandoned, as hateful persons and things are.
His own neighbour strictly so called, who is nearest to him, either by hab...
Is hated i.e. despised and abandoned, as hateful persons and things are.
His own neighbour strictly so called, who is nearest to him, either by habitation or by relation, and therefore most obliged to love and help him.
Haydock -> Pro 14:20
Haydock: Pro 14:20 - -- Many. "Riches make friends, poverty tries them." (Syrus.) ---
False friends resemble swallows, which retire at the approach of winter. (Cicero, a...
Many. "Riches make friends, poverty tries them." (Syrus.) ---
False friends resemble swallows, which retire at the approach of winter. (Cicero, ad Heren. iv.)
Gill -> Pro 14:20
Gill: Pro 14:20 - -- The poor is hated even of his own neighbour,.... As well as of strangers; that is, he is shy of him; he does not care to take any notice of him, or be...
The poor is hated even of his own neighbour,.... As well as of strangers; that is, he is shy of him; he does not care to take any notice of him, or be friendly with him, lest he should be burdensome to him. Poverty brings a man into contempt and disgrace; the same man, in affluence and indigence, is respected or disrespected: this is true, as Gersom observes, of a man that is poor, whether in money or in knowledge, in his purse or in his understanding;
but the rich hath many friends; or, "many are the lovers of the rich" r: for the sake of their riches; either for the sake of honour or profit, or because the rich want nothing of them, or because they themselves may gain something by them: this also is observed by the above Jewish commentator to be true of the rich in substance or in wisdom; but the former sense is best; for a wise man, if poor in the world, is but little regarded.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
MHCC -> Pro 14:20
MHCC: Pro 14:20 - --Friendship in the world is governed by self-interest. It is good to have God our Friend; he will not desert us.
Matthew Henry -> Pro 14:20
Matthew Henry: Pro 14:20 - -- This shows, not what should be, but what is the common way of the world - to be shy of the poor and fond of the rich. 1. Few will give countenance t...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Pro 14:20
Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 14:20 - --
Three proverbs on the hatred of men:
20 The poor is hated even by his neighbour;
But of those who love the rich there are many.
This is the old h...
Constable -> Pro 10:1--22:17; Pro 14:1--15:33
Constable: Pro 10:1--22:17 - --II. COUPLETS EXPRESSING WISDOM 10:1--22:16
Chapters 1-9, as we have seen, contain discourses that Solomon eviden...
