There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty.
Parallel translations
- KJV There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
- BSB One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.
- NKJV There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.
- NASB There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, And there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in poverty.
- NLT Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Generous giving can lead to increase, while stingy hoarding leads to poverty. God's economy often rewards open-handedness over grasping.
Overview
This counterintuitive proverb observes that those who give freely often prosper, while those who withhold unduly come to want. It teaches that generosity, under God's blessing, multiplies rather than depletes. The principle is taken up in the New Testament's teaching that God loves a cheerful giver and supplies the generous.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 19:17He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.
- Luke 6:38“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.”
- Deut 15:10You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to.
- Ps 112:9He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.
- Eccl 11:6In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don’t withhold your hand; for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be equally good.
- Hag 1:6You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.”
- Hag 1:9–11“You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.
- 2 Cor 9:5–11I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you, and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.
- Prov 11:18Wicked people earn deceitful wages, but one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.
- Hag 2:16–19Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.
- Prov 28:8He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.
- Eccl 11:1–2Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days.
- Acts 11:29–30As any of the disciples had plenty, each determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 11:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.