Proverbs 14:4
in Proverbs 14Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of the ox.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean; But much increase is by the strength of the ox.
KJV
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
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This verse in Proverbs 14
Commentary
5 notes on this verseWhere no oxen are the crib is clean,.... Or "empty" (z), so Jarchi and Aben Ezra. Oxen were used in Judea in several parts of husbandry; in ploughing the land, bringing home the corn, and in threshing or treading it out, Deu 22:
This site's exposition
In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride
on Proverbs 14:3-5
A proud mouth is its own rod, striking the fool who carries it, while the wise are kept safe by the very lips that other men fear. The empty stall between the two proverbs of pride and profit belongs together by an older logic: a clean crib means no working ox and no increase, so the mess an ox makes is the price of the harvest it brings. The chapter closes the group on a faithful witness against a false one, the same integrity that keeps the wise now guarding the courtroom.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Where there are no oxen, the crib is empty, etc. These are connected with the preceding. For the oxen signify catholic teachers; the crib, the listeners of the assemblies; the crops, the fruits of good works. Therefore, it is in vain that the proud swell …
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
But much increase is by the strength of the ox - The ox is the most profitable of all the beasts used in husbandry. Except merely for speed, he is almost in every respect superior to the horse. 1. He is longer lived. 2. Scarcely liable to any diseases. 3. He is steady, and always pulls fair in his gears. 4. He lives, fattens, and maintains his strength on what a horse will not eat, and therefore is supported on one third the cost. 5. His manure is more profitable.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
i. e., Labor has its rough, unpleasant side, yet it ends in profit. So also, the life of contemplation may seem purer, “cleaner “than that of action. The outer business of the world brings its cares and disturbances, but also “much increase.” There will be a sure reward of that activity in good works for him who goes, as with “the strength of the ox,” to the task to which God calls him.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּאֵ֣ין | beein | when there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| אֲ֭לָפִים | ʾalafim | [are] cattle<s> | H504 → | |
| אֵב֣וּס | ʾevus | [the] feeding trough | H18 → | |
| בָּ֑ר | bar | [is] clean | H1249 → | |
| וְרָב־ | verov- | and abundance of | H7230 → | 149 times |
| תְּ֝בוּא֗וֹת | tevuot | produce<s> | H8393 → | 42 times |
| בְּכֹ֣חַ | bekhoach | [is] by [the] strength of | H3581 → | 126 times |
| שֽׁוֹר׃ | shor | an ox | H7794 → | 79 times |
בְּאֵ֣יןwhen there not
beeinH369 →789 times
אֲ֭לָפִים[are] cattle<s>
ʾalafimH504 →
אֵב֣וּס[the] feeding trough
ʾevusH18 →
בָּ֑ר[is] clean
barH1249 →
וְרָב־and abundance of
verov-H7230 →149 times
תְּ֝בוּא֗וֹתproduce<s>
tevuotH8393 →42 times
בְּכֹ֣חַ[is] by [the] strength of
bekhoachH3581 →126 times
שֽׁוֹר׃an ox
shorH7794 →79 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Amos 4:6“I beset all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
it leads to
- Haggai 2:17
I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 5:3
O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than…
- Isaiah 9:13
But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.
- Haggai 2:17
Through
Proverbs 13:23Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away.
it leads to
- Proverbs 12:11
The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.
- Proverbs 28:19
The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
- Ecclesiastes 5:9
The produce of the earth is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
- Ecclesiastes 8:5–6
Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
- Psalms 112:5
It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice.
- Proverbs 12:11
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.