Proverbs 10:15
in Proverbs 10The wealth of the rich man is his fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: The destruction of the poor is their poverty.
KJV
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.
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This verse in Proverbs 10
Commentary
6 notes on this verseBut riches in themselves are not blameable. For the ransom of a man's life are his riches, for he who gives to the poor, redeems his soul. There is therefore scope for virtue even in these material riches. Ye are as it were pilots, in a great sea. If any man steers well his ship, he quickly passes over the sea, and reaches his haven, but he who cannot manage his property is sunk together with his burthen. Wherefore it is written, The rich man's strength is his strong city.
This site's exposition
The wealth of the rich man is his fortified city
on Proverbs 10:15-19
Verses framed as consequence follow: “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life”. Verse 18 names the liar's trade, hatred hidden behind “lying lips”. The cluster reaches its center at verse 19: “When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The wealth of the rich is his strong city, etc. The rich trust in their wealth as in a fortified city; the poor therefore tremble, fearing they may lack because they know they are needy. Spiritually, he who is rich in God trusts in Him …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The rich man's wealth is his strong city,.... What a fortified city is to persons in time of war, that is a rich man's wealth to him; by it he can defend himself from the injuries of others, and support himself and family in times of public calamity; for money is a defence, and answers all things, Ecc 7:
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Destruction - That which crushes, throws into ruins. Wealth secures its possessors against many dangers; poverty exposes men to worse evils than itself, meanness, servility, and cowardice. Below the surface there lies, it may be, a grave irony against the rich; see Pro 18:11.
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city - Behold a mystery in providence; there is not a rich man on earth but becomes such by means of the poor! Property comes from the labor of the poor, and the king himself is served of the field. How unjust, diabolically so, is it to despise or oppress those by whose labor all property is acquired! The destruction of the poor is their poverty - A man in abject poverty never arises out of this pit. They have no nucleus about which property may aggregate. The poet spoke well: - Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi. “They rarely emerge from poverty, whose exertions are cramped by want at home.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Wise men store up knowledge They guard it in their heart so that they do not forget it.
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. 2 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֣וֹן | hon | [the] wealth of | H1952 → | 26 times |
| עָ֭שִׁיר | ʾashir | a rich [person] | H6223 → | 23 times |
| קִרְיַ֣ת | kiryat | [is] a town of | H7151 → | 29 times |
| עֻזּ֑וֹ | uzo | strength his | H5797 → | 92 times |
| מְחִתַּ֖ת | mechitat | [is the] ruin of | H4288 → | 11 times |
| דַּלִּ֣ים | dalim | poor [people] | H1800 → | 47 times |
| רֵישָֽׁם׃ | reisham | poverty their | H7389 → | 7 times |
ה֣וֹן[the] wealth of
honH1952 →26 times
עָ֭שִׁירa rich [person]
ʾashirH6223 →23 times
קִרְיַ֣ת[is] a town of
kiryatH7151 →29 times
עֻזּ֑וֹstrength his
uzoH5797 →92 times
מְחִתַּ֖ת[is the] ruin of
mechitatH4288 →11 times
דַּלִּ֣יםpoor [people]
dalimH1800 →47 times
רֵישָֽׁם׃poverty their
reishamH7389 →7 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 14:20The poor man is hated even by his neighbor, but many are those who love the rich.
it leads to
- Proverbs 19:4
Wealth attracts many friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 19:4
Through
Psalms 52:7“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Ecclesiastes 8:8
As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release…
- Psalms 73:18–20
Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.
- Jeremiah 17:5
Through
Proverbs 19:7All the brothers of a poor man hate him—how much more do his friends avoid him! He may pursue them with pleading, but they are nowhere to be found.
it leads to
- Psalms 88:8
You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.
- Proverbs 18:23
The poor man pleads for mercy, but the rich man answers harshly.
- James 2:15–16
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
- Psalms 38:11
My beloved and friends shun my disease, and my kinsmen stand at a distance.
- Psalms 88:8
Where this verse is studied
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); Ambrose of Milan, Letters 61-70; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).