Proverbs 3:9
in Proverbs 3Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest;
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Honor Jehovah with thy substance, And with the first-fruits of all thine increase:
KJV
Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
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This verse in Proverbs 3
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThat we should not, then, try to get anything with sin under pretence of almsgiving we are plainly warned by Holy Scripture, which says, "The sacrifices of the impious are abominable which are offered of wickedness." For whatever in God's sacrifice is offered of wickedness appeases not, but provokes, the anger of Almighty God. Hence again it is written, "Honour the Lord from thy just labours." Whoso, then, takes evilly that he may, as he supposes, give well, it is evident without doubt that he honours not the Lord.
This site's exposition
Honor the LORD with your wealth
on Proverbs 3:9-10
“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest” names giving as an act of honor. Firstfruits ties it to the law's pattern, the first and best offered before the rest is used. The promise, “your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine,” speaks the plain farming terms of Solomon's audience.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
A commentator
Salvian the PresbyterFOUR BOOKS OF TIMOTHY TO THE CHURCH 1:5 · Written before 500.
proposed
We receive only the use of those possessions which we hold. We make use of the wealth loaned to us by God. We are, as it were, tenants by the revocable will of the grantor. When departing from this world, whether we like it or …
"Honor the Lord from your righteous labors, and offer to him the fruits of your righteousness; that your barns may be full of an abundance of wheat, and your vats may overflow with wine." Know that as you are faithfully carrying out this service, you have fulfilled the righteousness of the old law, under which those who then lived if they transgressed it inevitably incurred guilt, while if they fulfilled it they could not attain to the height of perfection.
Our Lord wants nothing done for his honor and glory without it being tempered by judgment, for "the honor of a king loves judgment." Therefore Solomon, the wisest of men, urges us not to let our judgment tilt to either side, saying: "Honor God with your righteous labors and offer to him of the fruits of your righteousness." For we have in our conscience an uncorrupt and true judge who, when all others are wrong, is the only person not deceived as to the state of our purity.
God approves of that alms which is furnished by just labors, as is written: "Honor the Lord with your labors and sacrifice to him with the fruits of your justice." For God abominates and refuses that alms which is furnished to him at the cost of another's tears. What profit accrues to you if one person blesses you while many curse you; what good does an alms bring to you when it is furnished from the possessions of another? In truth, need we fear that God does not have the goods with which you may feed his poor without plundering your neighbor?
The Medieval Church1 voice
Honor the Lord with your substance, etc. Many give much to the poor, but from another's substance and harvests, which they have taken by force or fraud. Many give of their own, but do not honor the Lord in their giving, because they do it …
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Honour the Lord with thy substance,.... Or, "out of thy substance" (n); for as it should be a man's own that he gives, and not another's, and therefore called "thy substance"; or, as the Septuagint version, "out of thy just labours", what is righteously and lawfully gotten, and not by fraud and oppression; so it is only a part of it, and not all, that is required; what in proportion to his substance can be prudently spared, and is sufficient and suitable to the call in Providence.
His honour we must show forth and the honour we have for him. We must honour him, not only with our bodies and spirits which are his, but with our estates too, for they also are his: we and all our appurtenances must be devoted to his glory. Worldly wealth is but poor substance, yet, such as it is, we must honour God with it, and then, if ever, it becomes substantial.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
“Substance” points to capital, “increase” to revenue. The Septuagint as if to guard against ill-gotten gains being offered as an atonement for the ill-getting, inserts the quaifying words, “honor the Lord from thy righteous labors.”
Honor the Lord with thy substance - The מנחה Minchah or gratitude-offering to God, commanded under the law, is of endless obligation. It would be well to give a portion of the produce of every article by which we get our support to God, or to the poor, the representatives of Christ. This might be done either in kind, or by the worth in money. Whatever God sends us in the way of secular prosperity, there is a portion of it always for the poor, and for God’s cause. When that portion is thus disposed of, the rest is sanctified; when it is withheld, God’s curse is upon the whole. Give to the poor, and God will give to thee.
Modern Voices1 voice
Honoring God first positions our hearts to receive His wisdom, direction, and blessing.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כַּבֵּ֣ד | kabed | honor | H3513 → | 113 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְ֭הוָה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מֵהוֹנֶ֑ךָ | mehonekha | from wealth your | H1952 → | 26 times |
| וּ֝מֵרֵאשִׁ֗ית | umereshit | and from [the] first of | H7225 → | 51 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| תְּבוּאָתֶֽךָ׃ | tevuatekha | produce your | H8393 → | 42 times |
כַּבֵּ֣דhonor
kabedH3513 →113 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יְ֭הוָהYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מֵהוֹנֶ֑ךָfrom wealth your
mehonekhaH1952 →26 times
וּ֝מֵרֵאשִׁ֗יתand from [the] first of
umereshitH7225 →51 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
תְּבוּאָתֶֽךָ׃produce your
tevuatekhaH8393 →42 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
1 Corinthians 16:2On the first day of every week, each of you should set aside a portion of his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will be needed.
it leads to
- Malachi 3:9–10
You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me.
- Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight.
- Luke 16:10
Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
- Malachi 3:9–10
Through
Exodus 23:19Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
it leads to
- Exodus 34:26
Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
- Deuteronomy 14:21
You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are…
- Exodus 34:26
Through
Proverbs 14:31Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.
it leads to
- Proverbs 22:2
The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all.
- Proverbs 22:16
Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.
- Proverbs 17:5
He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.
- Proverbs 22:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
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About Proverbs
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 12; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Benny Hinn, The Power of Honoring God First (bennyhinn.org devotional); Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Gregory the Dialogist, Register of Epistles, Book 9, Epistle CVI; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 21:2; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 21:22; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Salvian the Presbyter, FOUR BOOKS OF TIMOTHY TO THE CHURCH 1:5.