Proverbs 17:5

17:5 The one who mocks the poor ¹  insults ²  his Creator;

whoever rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished.

James 2:5-6

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ³  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor! ⁴  Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts?

¹ sn The parallelism helps define the subject matter: The one who “mocks the poor” (NAB, NASB, NIV) is probably one who “rejoices [NIV gloats] over disaster.” The poverty is hereby explained as a disaster that came to some. The topic of the parable is the person who mocks others by making fun of their misfortune.

² sn The Hebrew word translated “insults” (חֵרֵף, kheref) means “reproach; taunt” (as with a cutting taunt); it describes words that show contempt for or insult God. The idea of reproaching the Creator may be mistaking and blaming God’s providential control of the world (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 337). W. G. Plaut, however, suggests that mocking the poor means holding up their poverty as a personal failure and thus offending their dignity and their divine nature (Proverbs, 187).

³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

⁴ tn This is singular: “the poor person,” perhaps referring to the hypothetical one described in vv. 2-3.