One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
Parallel Translations
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One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
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He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
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He that tilleth his ground shall have plenty of bread; but he that followeth after vain things shall have poverty enough.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Proverbs 28:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 12:11 He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
- Judges 9:4 They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows who followed him.
- Proverbs 13:20 One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
- Proverbs 27:23-27 Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds: for riches are not forever, nor does the crown endure to all generations. The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in. The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field. There will be plenty of goats’ milk for your food, for your family’s food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.
- Proverbs 14:4 Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
- Proverbs 23:20-21 Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat: for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
- Luke 15:12-17 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them. Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 28:19 He that tilleth his land shall have…
Pro 28:19 He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain [persons] shall have poverty enough.
Ver. 19. He that tilleth his land shall have plenty.] At fugiens molam fugit farinam: Men must earn it ere they eat it; and not think that bread and other good things will drop out of the clouds to them, as towns were said to come in to Timotheus’s toils while he slept. {a} See Pro 12:11.
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Shall have poverty enough.] As the prodigal had, {Luk 15:13-17} and Pythius, who in a bravery entertained Xerxes’s whole army, but was so poor at length that he perished through want of meat.
{a} Plut. in Sulla.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain That followeth after vain persons; choosing their company, and…
That followeth after vain persons; choosing their company, and imitating their example; who gives up himself to vanity and idleness, and so is fitly opposed to the diligent man in the former clause.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Note, 1. Those that are diligent in their callings…
Note, 1. Those that are diligent in their callings take the way to live comfortably: He that tills his land, and tends his shop, and minds his business, whatever it is, he shall have plenty of bread, of that which is necessary for himself and his family and with which he may be charitable to the poor; he shall eat the labour of his hands. 2. Those that are idle, and careless, and company-keepers, though they indulge themselves in living (as they think) easily and pleasantly, they take the way to live miserably. He that has land and values himself upon that, but does not till it, but follows after vain persons, drinks with them, joins with them in their frolics and vain sports, and idles away his time with him, he shall have poverty enough, shall be satiated or replenished with poverty (so the word is); he takes those courses which lead so directly to it that he seems to court it, and he shall have his fill of it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of…
He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread,.... Or, "shall he filled" or "satisfied with bread" (s): shall have bread enough, and to spare; provisions of all sorts, and in great plenty; See Gill on Pro 12:11;
but he that followeth, after vain persons; empty idle persons; keeps company and spends his time with them, when he should be about the business of his calling:
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shall have poverty enough; or be "filled with it" (t); he shall be exceeding poor, reduced to the utmost distress, be clothed in rags and destitute of daily food.
(s) "saturabitur pane", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Schultens. (t) "satiabitur", Tigurine version, Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis; "saturabitur", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus, Schultens.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. He that tilleth his land] See Pr…
Verse 19. He that tilleth his land] See Pr 12:11.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 28:19-20. He that tilleth, &c. — See note…
Pro 28:19-20. He that tilleth, &c. — See note on Pro 12:11. A faithful man — Hebrew, אישׁ אמונות, a man of truths, who deals truly and justly in all his bargains and transactions with men; shall abound with blessings — Shall have many blessings from God, and be well spoken of by men; but he that maketh haste to be rich — More than God allows him; he whose eager desires cause him to pursue riches by right or wrong, and who, therefore, is unfaithful and unjust in his dealings; shall not be innocent — Shall bring such guilt upon himself as will render him execrable both to God and men, and instead of blessings, shall bring curses and misery upon him.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain This Proverb also has been given before. (Pro 12:11…
This Proverb also has been given before. (Pro 12:11 .) Such memories and hearts as ours need "line upon line" in the enforcement of practical obligation. (Isa 28:13 .) If labor be a penal ordinance,†1 such a blessing is included in it, that its removal would diminish our most substantial source of happiness. Man was not born to be a stone without energy; or a machine, to be moved by mere passive force. Our true happiness is active dependence. Habits of diligence are the means of working it out fruitfully. The earth "bringeth forth of itself only thorns and thistles." But he that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread.†2 The blessing comes, not by miracle, to encourage sloth; but in use of means, to stimulate exertion.
The contrast to this plenty of bread is poverty enough. The prodigal is a warning beacon. "In his father’s house," doubtless engaged in active exercise, "there was bread enough, and to spare." When in his waywardness he left his plenty, and followed after vain persons, soon he found poverty enough — "I perish with hunger." (Luk 15:17 .) Idleness is a sin against God, against our neighbor, against ourselves. "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord" — is the rule of prosperity in this world’s concerns; much more in the momentous concerns of eternity.†3
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Footnotes:
†1 Gen 3:19.
†2 Gen 3:18, with Pro 14:4 ; Pro 27:23-27 .
†3 Rom 12:11. Ecc 9:10 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Compare Pro 10:4; Pro 20:4).
(Compare Pro 10:4; Pro 20:4).
vain persons--idle, useless drones, implying that they are also wicked (Pro 12:11; Psa 26:4).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. Shall have plenty — Shall have enough, and…
19. Shall have plenty — Shall have enough, and more than enough; shall be satiated. Comp. Pro_12:11.
Vain persons — Worthless fellows: “vanities.” — Conant. Substantially the same term as in Mat_5:22. It is employed as a term of contempt, with the idea of moral depravity superadded. He that chooses such for his companions shall have plenty of poverty.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. Comp. Pro_12:11.
19. Comp. Pro_12:11.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (19) He that tilleth his land shall have plenty…
(19) He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread.—The curse of Gen_3:17-19 being, in God’s mercy, turned into a blessing.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A variation of Pro_12:11. Shall have poverty enough. The…
A variation of Pro_12:11. Shall have poverty enough. The new clause marks the antithesis more clearly than that above.
See homily on Pro_27:23. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 works his land
works his land
This means to till, sow, and care for his crops.
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whoever follows
"anyone who follows"
follows worthless pursuits
"chases after worthless projects." The person who is busy doing things that do not produce anything is spoken of as chasing after useless things. (See: Idiom)
will have plenty of poverty
The person following worthless pursuits is spoken of as getting the opposite of plenty of food. The abstract noun "poverty" can be translated as an adjective. AT: "will be very poor" (See: Irony and Abstract Nouns)
the one who gets rich quickly will not go unpunished
The double negative "will not go unpunished" is used for emphasis. This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will certainly punish the one who gets rich quickly" (See: Litotes and Active or Passive)
the one who gets rich quickly
The implied information is that this person gains wealth by unfaithful or dishonest means. AT: "the one who tries to get rich quickly" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
works
worthy
faithful
bless
punish
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 28:19 This proverb is repeated but with a different…
28:19 This proverb is repeated but with a different conclusion in 12:11.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.