Proverbs 6:11

6:11 and your poverty will come like a robber, ¹ 

and your need like an armed man. ² 

Proverbs 24:34

24:34 and your poverty will come like a bandit,

and your need like an armed robber.” ³ 

Proverbs 11:24

11:24 One person is generous ⁴  and yet grows more wealthy, ⁵ 

but another withholds more than he should ⁶  and comes to poverty. ⁷ 

Proverbs 14:23

14:23 In all hard work ⁸  there is profit,

but merely talking about it ⁹  only brings ¹⁰  poverty. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 21:5

21:5 The plans of the diligent ¹²  lead ¹³  only to plenty, ¹⁴ 

but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 22:16

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

and the one who gives to the rich ¹⁶  – both end up only in poverty.

Proverbs 28:27

28:27 The one who gives to the poor will not lack, ¹⁷ 

but whoever shuts his eyes to them ¹⁸  will receive ¹⁹  many curses. ²⁰ 

Proverbs 21:17

21:17 The one who loves ²¹  pleasure ²²  will be ²³  a poor person; ²⁴ 

whoever loves wine and anointing oil ²⁵  will not be rich.

[6:11]  ¹ tn Heb “like a wayfarer” or “like a traveler” (cf. KJV). The LXX has “swiftness like a traveler.” It has also been interpreted as a “highwayman” (cf. NAB) or a “dangerous assailant.” W. McKane suggests “vagrant” (Proverbs [OTL], 324); cf. NASB “vagabond.” Someone traveling swiftly would likely be a robber.

[6:11]  ² tn The Hebrew word for “armed” is probably connected to the word for “shield” and “deliver” (s.v. גָּנַן). G. R. Driver connects it to the Arabic word for “bold; insolent,” interpreting its use here as referring to a beggar or an insolent man (“Studies in the Vocabulary of the Old Testament, IV,” JTS 33 [1933]: 38-47).

[24:34]  ³ tn Heb “a man of shield.” This could refer to an armed warrior (so NRSV) but in this context, in collocation with the other word for “robber” in the previous line, it must refer to an armed criminal.

[11:24]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “more than what is right.” This one is not giving enough, but saving for himself.

[11:24]  ⁸ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[14:23]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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).

[28:27]  ¹³ sn The generous individual will be rewarded. He will not lack nor miss what he has given away to the poor.

[28:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “hides his eyes”; “to them” is supplied in the translation to indicate the link with the poor in the preceding line. Hiding or closing the eyes is a metonymy of cause or of adjunct, indicating a decision not to look on and thereby help the poor. It could also be taken as an implied comparison, i.e., not helping the poor is like closing the eyes to them.

[28:27]  ¹⁵ tn The term “receives” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied, and is supplied in the translation.

[28:27]  ¹⁶ sn The text does not specify the nature or the source of the curses. It is natural to think that they would be given by the poor who are being mistreated and ignored. Far from being praised for their contributions to society, selfish, stingy people will be reviled for their heartless indifference.

[21:17]  ¹⁵ sn The participle “loves” (אֹהֵב, ’ohev) indicates in this context that more is involved than the enjoyment of pleasure, for which there is no problem. The proverb is looking at “love” in the sense of needing and choosing, an excessive or uncontrolled indulgence in pleasure.

[21:17]  ¹⁶ sn “Pleasure” is actually the Hebrew word “joy” (שִׂמְחָה, simkhah). It is a metonymy of effect, the cause being the good life that brings the joy. In the second colon, “wine” and “oil” would be metonymies of cause, the particular things in life that bring joy. Therefore the figures in the lines work together to give the complete picture.

[21:17]  ¹⁷ tn The phrase “will be” is supplied in the translation.

[21:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a man of poverty”; NRSV “will suffer want.”

[21:17]  ¹⁹ sn In elaborate feasts and celebrations the wine was for drinking but the oil was for anointing (cf. NAB, NCV “perfume”). Both of these characterize the luxurious life (e.g., Ps 23:5; 104:15; Amos 6:6).