Proverbs 10:2

10:2 Treasures gained by wickedness ¹  do not profit,

but righteousness ²  delivers from mortal danger. ³ 

Proverbs 20:21

20:21 An inheritance gained easily ⁴  in the beginning

will not be blessed ⁵  in the end. ⁶ 

Proverbs 28:8

28:8 The one who increases his wealth by increasing interest ⁷ 

gathers it for someone who is gracious ⁸  to the needy.

Job 15:28-29

15:28 he lived in ruined towns ⁹ 

and in houses where ¹⁰  no one lives,

where they are ready to crumble into heaps. ¹¹ 

15:29 He will not grow rich,

and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions ¹²  spread over the land.

Job 20:15

20:15 The wealth that he consumed ¹³  he vomits up,

God will make him throw it out ¹⁴  of his stomach.

Job 20:19-22

20:19 For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; ¹⁵ 

he has seized a house which he did not build. ¹⁶ 

20:20 For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; ¹⁷ 

he does not let anything he desires ¹⁸  escape. ¹⁹ 

20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour; ²⁰ 

that is why his prosperity does not last. ²¹ 

20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, ²² 

distress ²³  overtakes him.

the full force of misery will come upon him. ²⁴ 

Job 27:16-17

27:16 If he piles up silver like dust

and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,

27:17 what he stores up ²⁵  a righteous man will wear,

and an innocent man will inherit his silver.

Ecclesiastes 5:14

5:14 Then that wealth was lost through bad luck; ²⁶ 

although he fathered a son, he has nothing left to give him. ²⁷ 

Jeremiah 17:11

17:11 The person who gathers wealth by unjust means

is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. ²⁸ 

Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. ²⁹ 

At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” ³⁰ 

Habakkuk 2:6-7

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ³¹ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ³² 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ³³ 

(How long will this go on?) ³⁴  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ³⁵ 

2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; ³⁶ 

those who terrify you will spring into action, ³⁷ 

and they will rob you. ³⁸ 

James 5:1-5

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ³⁹  over the miseries that are coming on you. 5:2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. 5:3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! ⁴⁰  5:4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5:5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ⁴¹ 

[10:2]  ¹ tn Heb “treasures of wickedness” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “Ill-gotten gains”; TEV “Wealth that you get by dishonesty.”

[10:2]  ² sn The term “righteousness” here means honesty (cf. TEV). Wealth has limited value even if gained honestly; but honesty delivers from mortal danger.

[10:2]  ³ tn Heb “death.” This could refer to literal death, but it is probably figurative here for mortal danger or ruin.

[20:21]  ⁴ tc The Kethib reads מְבֻחֶלֶת (mÿbukhelet), “gotten by greed” (based on a cognate Syriac verb, “to be greedy”); but the Qere is מְבֹהֶלֶת (mÿvohelet), “gotten hastily [or, quickly].” A large number of mss and the ancient versions read with the Qere (cf. KJV, ASV “gotten hastily”; NAB “gained hastily”; NIV “quickly gained”; NRSV “quickly acquired”).

[20:21]  ⁵ tn The form is the Pual imperfect, “will not be blessed,” suggesting that divine justice is at work.

[20:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “in its end”; KJV, ASV “the end thereof.”

[28:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “by interest and increase” (so ASV; NASB “by interest and usury”; NAB “by interest and overcharge.” The two words seem to be synonyms; they probably form a nominal hendiadys, meaning “by increasing [exorbitant] interest.” The law prohibited making a commission or charging interest (Exod 22:25; Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:20; Ps 15:5). If the poor needed help, the rich were to help them – but not charge them interest.

[28:8]  ⁸ tn The term חוֹנֵן (khonen, “someone who shows favor”) is the active participle.

[15:28]  ⁹ sn K&D 11:266 rightly explains that these are not cities that he, the wicked, has destroyed, but that were destroyed by a judgment on wickedness. Accordingly, Eliphaz is saying that the wicked man is willing to risk such a curse in his confidence in his prosperity (see further H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 113).

[15:28]  ¹⁰ tn The verbal idea serves here to modify “houses” as a relative clause; so a relative pronoun is added.

[15:28]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew has simply “they are made ready for heaps.” The LXX translates it, “what they have prepared, let others carry away.” This would involve a complete change of the last word.

[15:29]  ¹² tn This word מִנְלָם (minlam) also is a hapax legomenon, although almost always interpreted to mean “possession” (with Arabic manal) and repointed as מְנֹלָם (mÿnolam). M. Dahood further changes “earth” to the netherworld, and interprets it to mean “his possessions will not go down to the netherworld (“Value of Ugaritic for Textual Criticism,” Bib 40 [1959]: 164-66). Others suggest it means “ear of grain,” either from the common word for “ears of grain” or a hapax legomenon in Deuteronomy 23:26 [25].

[20:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “swallowed.”

[20:15]  ¹⁴ tn The choice of words is excellent. The verb יָרַשׁ (yarash) means either “to inherit” or “to disinherit; to dispossess.” The context makes the figure clear that God is administering the emetic to make the wicked throw up the wealth (thus, “God will make him throw it out…”); but since wealth is the subject there is a disinheritance meant here.

[20:19]  ¹⁵ tc The verb indicates that after he oppressed the poor he abandoned them to their fate. But there have been several attempts to improve on the text. Several have repointed the text to get a word parallel to “house.” Ehrlich came up with עֹזֵב (’ozev, “mud hut”), Kissane had “hovel” (similar to Neh 3:8). M. Dahood did the same (“The Root ’zb II in Job,” JBL 78 [1959]: 306-7). J. Reider came up with עֶזֶב (’ezev, the “leavings”), what the rich were to leave for the poor (“Contributions to the Scriptural text,” HUCA 24 [1952/53]: 103-6). But an additional root עָזַב (’azav) is questionable. And while the text as it stands is general and not very striking, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Dhorme reverses the letters to gain בְּעֹז (bÿ’oz, “with force [or violence]”).

[20:19]  ¹⁶ tn The last clause says, “and he did not build it.” This can be understood in an adverbial sense, supplying the relative pronoun to the translation.

[20:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “belly,” which represents his cravings, his desires and appetites. The “satisfaction” is actually the word for “quiet; peace; calmness; ease.” He was driven by greedy desires, or he felt and displayed an insatiable greed.

[20:20]  ¹⁸ tn The verb is the passive participle of the verb חָמַד (khamad) which is one of the words for “covet; desire.” This person is controlled by his desires; there is no escape. He is a slave.

[20:20]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is difficult to translate in this line. It basically means “to cause to escape; to rescue.” Some translate this verb as “it is impossible to escape”; this may work, but is uncertain. Others translate the verb in the sense of saving something else: N. Sarna says, “Of his most cherished possessions he shall save nothing” (“The Interchange of the Preposition bet and min in Biblical Hebrew,” JBL 78 [1959]: 315-16). The RSV has “he will save nothing in which he delights”; NIV has “he cannot save himself by his treasure.”

[20:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for his eating,” which is frequently rendered “for his gluttony.” It refers, of course, to all the desires he has to take things from other people.

[20:21]  ²¹ sn The point throughout is that insatiable greed and ruthless plundering to satisfy it will be recompensed with utter and complete loss.

[20:22]  ²² tn The word שָׂפַק (safaq) occurs only here; it means “sufficiency; wealth; abundance (see D. W. Thomas, “The Text of Jesaia 2:6 and the Word sapaq,” ZAW 75 [1963]: 88-90).

[20:22]  ²³ tn Heb “there is straightness for him.” The root צָרַר (tsarar) means “to be narrowed in straits, to be in a bind.” The word here would have the idea of pressure, stress, trouble. One could say he is in a bind.

[20:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “every hand of trouble comes to him.” The pointing of עָמֵל (’amel) indicates it would refer to one who brings trouble; LXX and Latin read an abstract noun עָמָל (’amal, “trouble”) here.

[27:17]  ²⁵ tn The text simply repeats the verb from the last clause. It could be treated as a separate short clause: “He may store it up, but the righteous will wear it. But it also could be understood as the object of the following verb, “[what] he stores up the righteous will wear.” The LXX simply has, “All these things shall the righteous gain.”

[5:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “through a bad business deal.” The basic meaning of עִנְיַן (’inyan) is “business; affair” (HALOT 857 s.v. עִנְיָן) or “occupation; task” (BDB 775 s.v. עִנְיָן). The term is used in a specific sense in reference to business activity (Eccl 8:16), as well as in a more general sense in reference to events that occur on earth (Eccl 1:13; 4:8). BDB suggests that the phrase עִנְיַן רָע (’inyan ra’) in 5:13 refers to a bad business deal (BDB 775 s.v. עִנְיָן); however, HALOT suggests that it means “bad luck” (HALOT 857 s.v. עִנְיָן). The English versions reflect the same two approaches: (1) bad luck: “some misfortune” (NAB, NIV) and (2) a bad business deal: “a bad investment” (NASB), “a bad venture” (RSV, NRSV, MLB), “some unlucky venture” (Moffatt, NJPS), “an unlucky venture” (NEB), “an evil adventure” (ASV).

[5:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “there is nothing in his hand.”

[17:11]  ²⁸ tn The meaning of this line is somewhat uncertain. The word translated “broods over” occurs only here and Isa 34:15. It is often defined on the basis of an Aramaic cognate which means “to gather” with an extended meaning of “to gather together under her to hatch.” Many commentators go back to a Rabbinic explanation that the partridge steals the eggs of other birds and hatches them out only to see the birds depart when they recognize that she is not the mother. Modern studies question the validity of this zoologically. Moreover, W. L. Holladay contests the validity on the basis of the wording “and she does hatch them” (Heb “bring them to birth”). See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:498, and see also P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 229. The point of the comparison is that the rich gather their wealth but they do not get to see the fruits of it.

[17:11]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew text merely says “it.” But the antecedent might be ambiguous in English so the reference to wealth gained by unjust means is here reiterated for clarity.

[17:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he will be [= prove to be] a fool.”

[2:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “Will not these, all of them, take up a taunt against him…?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

[2:6]  ³² tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ³³ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who increases [what is] not his.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe,” “ah”) was used in funeral laments and carries the connotation of death.

[2:6]  ³⁴ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the one who makes himself heavy [i.e., wealthy] [by] debts.” Though only appearing in the first line, the term הוֹי (hoy) is to be understood as elliptical in the second line.

[2:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Will not your creditors suddenly rise up?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

[2:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”

[2:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”

[5:1]  ³⁹ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[5:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”

[5:5]  ⁴¹ sn James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).