An inheritance gained quickly will not be blessed in the end.
Parallel translations
- WEB An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning, won’t be blessed in the end.
- KJV An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
- NKJV An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning Will not be blessed at the end.
- NASB An inheritance gained in a hurry at the beginning Will not be blessed in the end.
- NLT An inheritance obtained too early in life is not a blessing in the end.
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
An inheritance grabbed hastily or greedily will not be blessed in the end. It matters because gain pursued wrongly carries no lasting blessing.
Overview
Wealth seized impatiently or by improper means lacks God's blessing and proves fleeting (Proverbs 13:11; 28:20). The verse warns against grasping for quick riches rather than trusting God's timing. True and lasting blessing comes from righteous diligence under the Lord's hand.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Tim 6:9Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
- Prov 13:22A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Prov 28:8He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.
- Prov 23:4Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
- Prov 28:22A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.
- Job 27:16–17Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,
- Prov 28:20A faithful man will abound with blessings, but one eager to be rich will not go unpunished.
- Hab 2:6Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’
- Mal 2:2If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.
- Zech 5:4I will send it out, declares the LORD of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”
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 20:21 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.