Proverbs 13:23

Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Much	רָב rov-	H7230	abundance (in any respect) · noun, common masculine singular construct
food	אֹ֭כֶל 'O.khel	H400	food · noun, common masculine singular absolute
tillage	נִ֣יר nir	H5215	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
poor	רֹאשׁ rôʼsh	H7218	the head (as most easily shaken)
is	וְיֵ֥שׁ ve.Yesh	H3426	there is or are (or any other form of the verb to be · conjunction + cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
destroyed	נִ֝סְפֶּ֗ה nis.Peh	H5595	properly · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
want	בְּלֹ֣א be.Lo'	H3808	not (the simple or abs. negation) · preposition + negative particle
judgment	מִשְׁפָּֽט mish.Pat	H4941	properly · 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 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
Proverbs 28:19 He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
Ecclesiastes 5:9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.
Psalms 112:5 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
Ecclesiastes 8:5-6 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.
Proverbs 27:18 Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
Proverbs 27:23-27 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
Proverbs 6:6-11 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 13:23

See here, 1. How a small estate may be improved by industry, so that a man, by making the best of every thing, may live comfortably upon it: Much food is in the tillage of the poor, the poor farmers, that have but a little, but take pains with that little and husband it well. Many make it an excuse for their idleness that they have but a little to work on, a very little to be doing with; but the less compass the field is of the more let the skill and labour of the owner be employed about it, and it will turn to a very good account. Let him dig, and he needs not beg. 2. How a great estate may be ruined by indiscretion: There is that has a great deal, but it is destroyed and brought to nothing…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 13:23

The laboring poor prosper more than those who injudiciously or wickedly strive, by fraud and violence, to supersede the necessity of lawful labor.

John Gill on Proverbs 13:23

Much food is in the tillage of the poor,.... The poor are generally employed in tilling land; from whose labours in ploughing and sowing much food arises to men, bread to the eater, and seed to the sower: or a poor farmer, that has but a small farm, a few acres of land, to till; yet through his diligence and industry, with the blessing of God upon it, he gets a comfortable livelihood for himself and family; much food, or a sufficiency of it for the present year, and seed to sow land again the following year; but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment; or discretion in tilling his land, and managing the affairs of husbandry, which is God's gift, Isaiah 28:26; or, "through injustice"…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 13:23

Connected with Pro 13:22 there now follow two proverbs regarding sustenance, with one intervening regarding education. 23 The poor man's fresh land gives food in abundance, And many are destroyed by iniquity. The Targ. and Theodotion (μέγας) translate רב, but the Masora has רב־ with short Kametz, as Pro 20:6; Ecc 1:8 (cf. Kimchi under רבב). The rendering: multitudo cibi est ager pauperum, makes the produce the property of the field (= frugum fertilis). ניר .)s is the new field (novale or novalis, viz., ager), from ניר, to make arable, fruitful; properly to raise up, viz., by grubbing and freeing of stones (סקּל). But why, asks Hitzig, just the new field? As if no answer could be given to th…

The Church Fathers

Many foods are in the fresh fields of the fathers, etc. He acts without proper judgment who is diligently occupied with amassing riches and does not himself dispense these accumulated riches to the poor for the redemption of his soul, but reserves them to be dispensed by others after him, as it is said in the superior verse by the letter: And the substance of the sinner is stored up for the just, especially when victuals abound for him from the right of paternal inheritance, and there is no necessity incumbent on him to gather any moneys. This is indeed what he says, Many foods are in the fresh fields of the fathers. But in the spiritual sense, there are many foods of heavenly nourishment in the sayings and examples of venerable fathers, and he acts without reason who eagerly reading, meditating, and expounding upon these, serves not his own salvation by this, but rather others, while he himself deviates from what he reads, either by evil deeds or by the impiety of heretical sense. Such a one, in the fresh fields of the fathers, that is, in the works or sayings of the fathers well cultivated by optimal institution, acquires support not for himself, but for others, those namely who reading his treatises find through them the spiritual sense, by which they are inwardly refreshed... The preceding verse was thus translated by ancient interpreters: Just men will enjoy riches for many years; but the wicked will perish quickly.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

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

Agriculture Or Husbandry · Diligence in, abundantly recompensed — Diligence in, abundantly recompensed
Industry · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Poor · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO

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).

Proverbs 13:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 13:23

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 13:23

John Gill on Proverbs 13:23

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 13:23

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 13:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 13:23

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 13:23

John Gill on Proverbs 13:23

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 13:23

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 13:23

Rashi on Proverbs 13:23