Proverbs 22:7

The rich rule the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's servant. It matters as a sober observation about the bondage of debt.

Cross-references · 16

• 2 Kgs 4:1Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”
• Matt 18:25But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
• Prov 22:16Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.
• Prov 18:23The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.
• Prov 14:31He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.
• Jas 2:6But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
• Prov 22:22Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court;
• Jas 5:1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
• Neh 5:4–5There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral.
• Amos 5:11–12Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
• Isa 24:2It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest.
• Amos 4:1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
• Amos 8:4Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
• Amos 8:6that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
• Amos 2:6Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;
• Jas 5:4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.

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.