Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
Parallel translations
- WEB An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away.
- BSB Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away.
- 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 12:11He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
- Prov 28:19He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
- Eccl 5:9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.
- Ps 112:5A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
- Eccl 8:5–6Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.
- Prov 27:18Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
- Prov 27:23–27Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
- Prov 11:5–6The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
- Prov 12:14A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him.
- Prov 6:6–11Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
- Jer 8:7–10Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment 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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