Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away.
Parallel translations
- WEB An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away.
- KJV Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
- NKJV Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor, And for lack of justice there is waste.
- NASB Abundant food is in the uncultivated ground of the poor, But it is swept away by injustice.
- NLT A poor person’s farm may produce much food, but injustice sweeps it all away.
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
The poor can produce abundant food, yet injustice strips it away. Oppression, not lack of effort, often causes poverty.
Overview
This sobering observation notes that the fields of the poor may yield plenty, but injustice can sweep it away, leaving them destitute. It exposes how wrongdoing and oppression rob people of the fruit of their labor. Scripture's concern for the oppressed runs throughout, and God promises to defend the cause of the needy (Proverbs 22:22-23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 12:11The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.
- Prov 28:19The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
- Eccl 5:9The produce of the earth is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
- Ps 112:5It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice.
- Eccl 8:5–6Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
- Prov 27:18Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who looks after his master will be honored.
- Prov 27:23–27Be sure to know the state of your flocks, and pay close attention to your herds;
- Prov 11:5–6The righteousness of the blameless directs their path, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.
- Prov 12:14By fruitful speech a man is filled with good things, and the work of his hands returns to him.
- Prov 6:6–11Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.
- Jer 8:7–10Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 13:23 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
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