Proverbs 6:11
in Proverbs 6and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man.
KJV
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
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This verse in Proverbs 6
Commentary
9 notes on this verse"And poverty will come upon you like a traveler," etc. For poverty and misery are the ultimate punishment, in which the damned deserve nothing of wealth: they will come like a traveler, because unforeseen and sudden; like an armed man, because they cannot be conquered …
This site's exposition
consider her ways, and be wise
on Proverbs 6:6-11
The sluggard is sent to school under an insect rather than a teacher, since the ant works without a guide, overseer, or ruler to compel her, storing food in summer for a need she has not yet felt. The rhetorical question, how long wilt thou sleep, presses the son with the ant's example already standing as the answer he cannot escape. The little sleep, a little slumber repeated three times mimics the sluggard's own excuse making, and poverty is pictured arriving not gradually but as a traveler and an armed man, unannounced once it comes.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
John ChrysostomCOMMENTARY ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, FRAGMENT 6:11 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
"And poverty will come upon you like an evil traveler, and want like a good runner." Nothing is worse than poverty. It comes immediately to the idle and even overtakes strong runners in its speed. Poverty is just like need: poverty is lack of knowledge; need is lack of virtue. Can you see the absolute excellence of work? Will you not be taught by instinct? Learn then from an attempt at doing something. Or, do you want to appear even more irrational? Then run away from poverty. Is work at first difficult? Then look to its results. Is idleness sweet? Then consider what comes out of it in the end. So let us not look at the beginning of things, but let us also see where they end up. The one who goes out of his house does not want to stop along the way, but already at the beginning of his journey is thinking about the end. Because he starts out this way, his beginning will bring him to the end. But you do quite the opposite.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth,....
When wilt thou think it time to arise? " Sluggards should be roused with a How long? This is applicable, (1.) To those that are slothful in the way of work and duty, in the duties of their particular calling as men or their general calling as Christians. " How long wilt thou waste thy time, and when wilt thou be a better husband of it?
The characters of one that is mischievous to man and dangerous to be dealt with. If the slothful are to be condemned, that do nothing, much more those that do ill, and contrive to do all the ill they can. It is a naughty person that is here spoken of, Heb. A man of Belial;
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The similitude is drawn from the two sources of Eastern terror: the “traveler,” i. e., “the thief in the night,” coming suddenly to plunder; the “armed man,” literally “the man of the shield,” the armed robber. The habit of indolence is more fatally destructive than these marauders.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
and the fruits of their self-indulgence and indolence presented. as . . . travelleth--literally, "one who walks backwards and forwards," that is, a highwayman. armed man--that is, one prepared to destroy.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth - That is, with slow, but surely approaching steps. Thy want as an armed man - That is, with irresistible fury; and thou art not prepared to oppose it. The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Arabic add the following clause to this verse: - “But if thou wilt be diligent, thy harvest shall be as a fountain; and poverty shall flee far away from thee.” It is also thus in the Old MS. Bible: If forsothe unslow thou shul ben; shul comen as a welle thi rip; and nede fer shal fleen fro thee.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And your poverty shall come like a fast walker If you do this [keep sleeping], your loss and the thing from which you are impoverished shall come to you immediately, like a man walking fast, and your want will come and fill up
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
a little folding of the hands The sleeper folds his hands, embrasser in French (abrasar in Provencal,) umfassen [in German], to embrace. In Rashi ms. plier in French [to fold] in German et was falten, to fold a little.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּבָֽא־ | uva'- | and it will come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| כִמְהַלֵּ֥ךְ | khimhalekh | like a traveler | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| רֵאשֶׁ֑ךָ | reshekha | poverty your | H7389 → | 7 times |
| וּ֝מַחְסֹֽרְךָ֗ | umachsorekha | and lack your | H4270 → | 13 times |
| כְּאִ֣ישׁ | keish | like a man of | H376 → | 1663 times |
| מָגֵֽן׃ פ | magen | shield | H4043 → | 63 times |
וּבָֽא־and it will come
uva'-H935 →2568 times
כִמְהַלֵּ֥ךְlike a traveler
khimhalekhH1980 →1546 times
רֵאשֶׁ֑ךָpoverty your
reshekhaH7389 →7 times
וּ֝מַחְסֹֽרְךָ֗and lack your
umachsorekhaH4270 →13 times
כְּאִ֣ישׁlike a man of
keishH376 →1663 times
מָגֵֽן׃ פshield
magenH4043 →63 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
Proverbs 20:4The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:4
Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 10:4
Through
Proverbs 10:4Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.
it leads to
- Proverbs 13:4
The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 19:15
Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 20:4
The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.
- Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent bring plenty, as surely as haste leads to poverty.
- Proverbs 13:4
Through
Proverbs 13:4The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.
it leads to
- Proverbs 12:24
The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.
- Proverbs 12:11
The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.
- 2 Peter 1:5–11
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;
- Proverbs 12:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 9 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); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, FRAGMENT 6:11; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.