Proverbs 11:24

11:24 One person is generous ¹  and yet grows more wealthy, ² 

but another withholds more than he should ³  and comes to poverty. ⁴ 

Proverbs 14:23

14:23 In all hard work ⁵  there is profit,

but merely talking about it ⁶  only brings ⁷  poverty. ⁸ 

Proverbs 21:5

21:5 The plans of the diligent ⁹  lead ¹⁰  only to plenty, ¹¹ 

but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. ¹² 

Proverbs 22:16

22:16 The one who oppresses the poor to increase his own gain

and the one who gives to the rich ¹³  – both end up only in poverty.

[11:24]  ¹ tn Heb “There is one who scatters.” The participle מְפַזֵּר (mÿfazzer, “one who scatters”) refers to charity rather than farming or investments (and is thus a hypocatastasis). Cf. CEV “become rich by being generous”).

[11:24]  ² tn Heb “increases.” The verb means that he grows even more wealthy. This is a paradox: Generosity determines prosperity in God’s economy.

[11:24]  ³ tn Heb “more than what is right.” This one is not giving enough, but saving for himself.

[11:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “comes to lack.” The person who withholds will come to the diminishing of his wealth. The verse uses hyperbole to teach that giving to charity does not make anyone poor, and neither does refusal to give ensure prosperity.

[14:23]  ⁵ sn The Hebrew term עֶצֶב (’etsev, “painful toil; labor”) is first used in scripture in Gen 3:19 to describe the effects of the Fall. The point here is that people should be more afraid of idle talk than of hard labor.

[14:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “word of lips.” This construct phrase features a genitive of source (“a word from the lips”) or a subjective genitive (“speaking a word”). Talk without work (which produces nothing) is contrasted with labor that produces something.

[14:23]  ⁷ tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[14:23]  ⁸ sn The noun מַחְסוֹר (makhsor, “need; thing needed; poverty”) comes from the verb “to lack; to be lacking; to decrease; to need.” A person given to idle talk rather than industrious work will have needs that go unmet.

[21:5]  ⁹ tn The word “diligent” is an adjective used substantivally. The related verb means “to cut, sharpen, decide”; so the adjective describes one who is “sharp” – one who acts decisively. The word “hasty” has the idea of being pressed or pressured into quick actions. So the text contrasts calculated expeditiousness with unproductive haste. C. H. Toy does not like this contrast, and so proposes changing the latter to “lazy” (Proverbs [ICC], 399), but W. McKane rightly criticizes that as unnecessarily forming a pedestrian antithesis (Proverbs [OTL], 550).

[21:5]  ¹⁰ tn The term “lead” is supplied in the translation.

[21:5]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew noun translated “plenty” comes from the verb יָתַר (yatar), which means “to remain over.” So the calculated diligence will lead to abundance, prosperity.

[21:5]  ¹² tn Heb “lack; need; thing needed”; NRSV “to want.”

[22:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “oppressing the poor, it is gain; giving to the rich, it is loss.” The Hebrew is cryptic, but two sins are mentioned here that will be punished by poverty: extortion and bribery. Perhaps the proverb is simply saying it is easy to oppress the poor for gain, but it is a waste of money to try to buy or bribe a patron (D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 149).