Proverbs 22:2

The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
rich	עָשִׁ֣יר 'a.Shir	H6223	rich · adjective, masculine singular absolute
poor	וָרָ֣שׁ va.Rash	H7326	to be destitute · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
together	נִפְגָּ֑שׁוּ nif.Ga.shu	H6298	to come in contact with · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
LORD	יְהוָֽה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
maker	עֹשֵׂ֖ה 'o.Seh	H6213	to do or make · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct

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

Job 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
1 Samuel 2:7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
Proverbs 14:31 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
Job 34:19 How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his…
Proverbs 29:13 The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes.
James 2:2-5 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
1 Corinthians 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
Psalms 49:1-2 Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 22:2

Note, 1. Among the children of men divine Providence has so ordered it that some are rich and others poor, and these are intermixed in societies: The Lord is the Maker of both, both the author of their being and the disposer of their lot. The greatest man in the world must acknowledge God to be his Maker, and is under the same obligations to be subject to him that the meanest is; and the poorest has the honour to be the work of God's hands as much as the greatest. Have they not all one Father? Mal 2:10; Job 31:15. God makes some rich, that they may be charitable to the poor, and others poor, that they may be serviceable to the rich; and they have need of one another, Co1 12:21. He make some…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 22:2

Before God all are on the same footing (Pro 14:31; Pro 17:5).

John Gill on Proverbs 22:2

The rich and poor meet together,.... In an hostile way, as some; they rush upon one another; the rich despise the poor, and the poor envy the rich; they cannot speak well one of another, as the Arabic version; or they are dependent on one another, they cannot do without each other; as in the natural body one member cannot say to another, I have no need of thee; so, in the body politic, the rich and the poor cannot say they have no need of one another; the rich stand in need of the poor to till their land, to plough and sow, and do all other servile works for them; and the poor have need of the rich to employ them; have need of their money as their wages for their work, to support themselves…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 22:1-2

Pro 21:1 1 A good name has the preference above great riches; For more than silver and gold is grace. The proverb is constructed chiastically; the commencing word נבחר (cf. Pro 21:3), and the concluding word טוב, are the parallel predicates; rightly, none of the old translators have been misled to take together חן טוב, after the analogy of שׂכל טוב, Pro 3:14; Pro 13:15. שׁם also does not need טוב for nearer determination; the more modern idiom uses שׁם טוב, (Note: e.g., Aboth iv. 17: there are three crowns: the crown of the Tra, the crown of the priesthood, and the crown of royalty; but כתר שׁם טוב, the crown of a good name, excels them all.) the more ancient uses שׁם alone (e.g., Ecc 7:1),…

The Church Fathers

The rich and the poor meet together, etc. Do not despise the rich because of their wealth and honors, nor the poor because of their poverty, but revere in each the merit that is the work of God, for they are made in the image and likeness of God.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

"The poor man and the rich have met each other." Where have they met each other? In this life. This one was born, that one was born, their lives were crossed, they have met each other. And who made them? The Lord. The rich man, to help the poor; the poor man, to test the rich.
— Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 39:6

The rich and the poor meet together. In what way, except in this present life? The rich and the poor are born alike. You meet one another as you walk along the way together. The poor must not defraud the rich; the rich must not oppress the poor. The one has need, the other has plenty, but "the Lord is the maker of them both." The Lord helps the one in need by the one who has; by the one who has not the Lord tests the one who has.
— Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 85.7

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

Man · EQUALITY OF — EQUALITY OF
Poor · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Poor, The · Made by God — Made by God
Theft · From the poor specially forbidden — From the poor specially forbidden

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 22:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 22:2

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 22:2

John Gill on Proverbs 22:2

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 22:1-2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 22:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 22:2

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 22:2

John Gill on Proverbs 22:2

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 22:1-2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 22:2

Rashi on Proverbs 22:2