In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty.
Parallel translations
- WEB In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.
- KJV In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
- 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.
- 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 28:19One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
- Prov 12:24The hands of the diligent ones shall rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.
- 2 Th 3:10–12For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone will not work, don’t let him eat.”
- Heb 6:10–11For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.
- Eccl 5:3For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words.
- John 6:27Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”
- 1 Tim 5:13Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
- Prov 10:10One winking with the eye causes sorrow, but a chattering fool will 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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