A rich person’s wealth is his strong city, And like a high wall in his own imagination.
Parallel translations
- WEB The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.
- KJV The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.
- BSB A rich man’s wealth is his fortified city; it is like a high wall in his imagination.
- NKJV The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, And like a high wall in his own esteem.
- NLT The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.
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 rich imagine their wealth is an impregnable defense. Trust in riches is a false and merely imagined security.
Overview
Deliberately paralleling verse 10, this proverb shows the rich man treating his wealth as a 'strong city,' but only 'in his own imagination.' The contrast exposes the difference between real refuge in God and the illusory security of money. Jesus warned that wealth cannot ransom the soul (Luke 12:19-21), and the gospel calls us to lay up treasure in heaven and trust the Lord rather than uncertain riches (1 Tim. 6:17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 10:15The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.
- Eccl 7:12For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
- Ps 52:5–7God will likewise destroy you forever. He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
- Deut 32:31For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.
- Ps 49:6–9Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches —
- Luke 12:19–21I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’
- Prov 11:4Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
- Ps 62:10–11Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
- Job 31:24–25“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:11 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.