Proverbs 19:4
in Proverbs 19Wealth attracts many friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wealth addeth many friends; But the poor is separated from his friend.
KJV
Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour.
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This verse in Proverbs 19
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Wealth maketh many friends
on Proverbs 19:4-9
The poor-and-friends cluster opens plainly: wealth makes many friends while the poor is separated even from his own neighbour, a social fact the book states without approving. A false witness draws the same two-fold sentence twice in the cluster, unpunished and perishing, the repetition at verses 5 and 9 read by the bench as deliberate emphasis rather than careless doubling. The poor man's brothers hating him and his friends going far, pursued with words that go unanswered, is the cluster's hardest line, and getting wisdom is named loving one's own soul against that backdrop.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Richness" of knowledge and wisdom "brings us many angels," but an impure person is even separated from the angel given to him at birth. Spiritual friendship is virtue and knowledge of God, through which we bind ourselves to friendship with the holy powers. Thus it …
The Medieval Church2 voices
Riches add many friends, etc. The riches of the kingdom of heaven, which are preached to be given to the faithful by the holy doctors, gain many friends both for the preachers themselves and for the Lord, their Giver. But by the philosophers and other …
He who only follows words will have nothing, etc. And the Apostle says: For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified (Rom. II).
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Wealth maketh many friends,....
How those that are rich and great are courted and caressed, and have suitors and servants in abundance. The prince that has power in his hand, and preferments at his disposal, has his gate and his ante-chamber thronged with petitioners, that are ready to adore him for what they can get.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The poor is separated from his neighbor - Because he has the “disease of all-shunned poverty.”
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֗וֹן | hon | wealth | H1952 → | 26 times |
| יֹ֭סִיף | yosif | it adds | H3254 → | 212 times |
| רֵעִ֣ים | reim | friends | H7453 → | 188 times |
| רַבִּ֑ים | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
| וְ֝דָ֗ל | vedal | and a poor [person] | H1800 → | 47 times |
| מֵרֵ֥עהוּ | merehu | from friend his | H7453 → | 188 times |
| יִפָּרֵֽד׃ | yipared | he is separated | H6504 → | 26 times |
ה֗וֹןwealth
honH1952 →26 times
יֹ֭סִיףit adds
yosifH3254 →212 times
רֵעִ֣יםfriends
reimH7453 →188 times
רַבִּ֑יםmany
rabimH7227 →454 times
וְ֝דָ֗לand a poor [person]
vedalH1800 →47 times
מֵרֵ֥עהוּfrom friend his
merehuH7453 →188 times
יִפָּרֵֽד׃he is separated
yiparedH6504 →26 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
Proverbs 14:20The poor man is hated even by his neighbor, but many are those who love the rich.
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:15
The wealth of the rich man is his fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.
- Proverbs 19:6–7
Many seek the favor of the prince, and everyone is a friend of the gift giver.
- Job 30:10
They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
- Job 6:21–23
For now you are of no help; you see terror, and you are afraid.
- Job 19:13–14
He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.
- Proverbs 10:15
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Evagrius Ponticus, SCHOLIA ON PROVERBS 189:19.4; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.