a depository · noun, common feminine plural construct
wickedness
רֶ֑שַׁעRe.sha'
H7562
a wrong (especially moral) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
profit
י֭וֹעִילוּYo.'i.lu
H3276
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
righteousness
וּ֝צְדָקָ֗הu.tze.da.Kah
H6666
rightness (abstractly) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
delivereth
תַּצִּ֥ילta.Tzil
H5337
to snatch away · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
death
מִמָּֽוֶתmi.Ma.vet
H4194
death (natural or violent) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 11:4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Proverbs 12:28 In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
Proverbs 21:6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
Psalms 49:6-10 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
Ezekiel 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them…
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by th…
Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Isaiah 10:2-3 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they m…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 10:2-3
These two verses speak to the same purport, and the latter may be the reason of the former. 1. That wealth which men get unjustly will do them no good, because God will blast it: Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, Pro 10:2. The treasures of wicked people, much more the treasure which they have made themselves masters of by any wicked people, by oppression of fraud, though it be ever so much, as a treasure, and laid up ever so safely, though it be hidden treasure, yet it profits nothing; when profit and loss come to be balanced the profit gained by the treasures will by no means countervail the loss sustained by the wickedness, Mat 16:26. They do not profit the soul; they will not purcha…
Treasures . . . nothing--that is, Ill-gotten gains give no true happiness (compare Pro 4:17; Mat 6:19).
righteousness--especially beneficence (Psa 112:9).
death--the greatest of all evils.
John Gill on Proverbs 10:2
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,.... By which are meant either a large abundance of riches in general, which for the most part are enjoyed by wicked men, and abused to wicked purposes, Proverbs 11:4; or an affluence of them, obtained in a wicked way, by fraud, oppression, and the like; see Micah 6:10; Or are either not used at all, or put to wicked uses: what are not used profit not the possessors of them, for they are "kept to the hurt of the owners" of them; and those which are got by ill means, or put to an ill use, "perish by evil travel", Ecclesiastes 5:13. Nor can anyone by his riches either redeem himself or his brother from destruction, or give to God a ransom for him; nor can…
There follows now a series of proverbs which place possessions and goods under a moral-religious point of view:
Treasures of wickedness bring no profit;
But righteousness delivers from death.
The lxx and Aquila translate ἀνόμους (ἀσεβεῖς). הועיל (to profit) with the accus. is possible, Isa 57:12, but אוצרות one does not use by itself; it requires a genitive designating it more closely. But also דּרשּׂיעא of the Targ., παρανόμων of Symmachus, fails; for the question still remains, to whom? Rightly Syr., Jerome, Theodotion, and the Quinta: ἀσεβείας, cf. Pro 4:17; Mic 4:10; Luk 16:9, μαμωνᾶς τῆς ἀδικίας. Treasures to which wickedness cleaves profit not, viz., him who has collected th…
The Church Fathers
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, etc. And often from temporal death, as with Daniel and the three youths, and always from eternal death, righteousness delivers. But treasures gathered through wickedness, even if they seem sometimes to rescue from bodily death, bring more harm because of the wickedness by which they were acquired, than benefit in being given in exchange for life.
"Treasures bring no profit to the unrighteous." What then? Did not many avoid death by paying money? Certainly, but they did not get free from sin and in fact they prepared for themselves a life much worse than death. Therefore let us not put our confidence in wealth but in virtue. Indeed when justice comes to deadly sins, people are taken away by death. Would they not rather receive profit from being righteous than from treasures amassed on the earth, "where they grow rusty and moth-eaten, and thieves break in to steal them?" Thus, justice not only saves those who possess it but also leads many others to desire it, and always transports them from death to eternal immortality.
If a man cast his seed in ground that is fertile [only] in thorns, and fruitful in briars, and densely covered with useless stubble, he sustains a double loss; of his seed first, and also of his trouble. In order, therefore, that the divine seed may blossom well in us, let us first cast out of the mind worldly cares and the unprofitable anxiety which makes us seek to be rich. "For we brought nothing into the world, nor can we take anything out." For what profit is there in possessing superfluities? "Treasures profit not the wicked," as Scripture says, "but righteousness delivers from death." For immediately upon the possession of affluence, there run up, and, so to speak, forthwith hem us in, the basest wickednesses; profligate banquets, the delights of gluttony and carefully prepared sauces; music and drunkenness, and the pitfalls of wantonness; pleasures and sensuality, and pride hateful to God. But as the disciple of the Savior has said, "Everything that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of the world; and the world passes away, and its lust; but he that does the will of God abides for ever."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Alms — Not found in the Old Testament, but repeatedly in the New. The Mosaic legislation (Lev. 25:35; Deut. 15:7) tended to promote a spirit of charity, and to prevent the occurrence of destitution among…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Proverbs, Book of — A collection of moral and philosophical maxims of a wide range of subjects presented in a poetic form. This book sets forth the “philosophy of practical life. It is the sign to us that the Bible does…
Riches · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Righteousness · FRUITS OF — FRUITS OF
Vanity · Treasures of wickedness are — Treasures of wickedness are
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Tainted wealth . . . right living: The book of Proverbs promotes good behavior over having money (see also 11:18; 13:11, 22).
Rashi on Proverbs 10:2
Treasures of wickedness will not avail For he was boasting with his riches, as it is stated (Hosea 12:9): “And Ephraim said: Surely I have become rich, etc.”
but charity will save from death And if you ask, “A righteous man who squanders his property for charity—from where will he sustain himself?”
