In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
Parallel translations
- WEB In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.
- BSB There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
- NKJV In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter leads only to poverty.
- NASB In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty.
- NLT Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!
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
Hard work yields profit, but mere talk leads to poverty. Diligence, not chatter, produces results.
Overview
This proverb contrasts genuine labor, which bears fruit, with empty talk, which produces only lack. It commends industriousness and warns against substituting words for work. Scripture consistently honors faithful labor and warns against idleness (2 Thessalonians 3:10), while keeping all work in service to God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Prov 28:19He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
- Prov 12:24The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
- 2 Th 3:10–12For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
- Heb 6:10–11For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
- Eccl 5:3For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
- John 6:27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
- 1 Tim 5:13And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
- Prov 10:10He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.
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 14:23 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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