Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.
- BSB Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act.
- NKJV Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
- NASB ¶Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it.
- NLT Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.
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
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is owed when you have power to give it. Wisdom acts justly and generously toward neighbors.
Overview
Turning from inner security to social duty, the father commands active justice and generosity: do not deny what is rightly owed, whether wages, kindness, or aid, when you can supply it. Wisdom is not merely private but expresses itself in love of neighbor. This anticipates the law of love fulfilled in Christ and urged on his people (Gal 6:10; Jas 2:15-16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gal 6:10As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
- Jas 2:15–16If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
- Rom 13:7Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
- Jas 5:4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
- Gen 31:29It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
- Mic 2:1Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
- Titus 2:14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
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 3:27 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.