then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
Parallel translations
- WEB so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.
- KJV So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
- BSB and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.
- NKJV So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.
- NASB Then your poverty will come in like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.
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
Persistent laziness leads to poverty that arrives suddenly and overwhelmingly, like an armed robber. Neglect has steep consequences.
Overview
The sluggard's small indulgences end in want that strikes like a bandit, beyond his power to resist. Poverty here is the natural fruit of sustained negligence, not mere misfortune. The proverb warns soberly that ignoring diligence today invites hardship tomorrow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Prov 13:4The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.
- Prov 20:4The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
- Prov 24:34so your poverty will come as a robber, and your want as an armed man.
- Prov 10:4He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.
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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 6:11 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.