An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away.
Parallel translations
- KJV Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
- 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 who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
- Prov 28:19One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
- Eccl 5:9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.
- Ps 112:5It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
- Eccl 8:5–6Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.
- Prov 27:18Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.
- Prov 27:23–27Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds:
- Prov 11:5–6The righteousness of the blameless will 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. The work of a man’s hands shall be rewarded to him.
- Prov 6:6–11Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;
- Jer 8:7–10Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.
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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