Proverbs Chapter 22 verse 16 Holy Bible
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his `gain', `And' he that giveth to the rich, `shall come' only to want.
read chapter 22 in ASV
He who is cruel to the poor for the purpose of increasing his profit, and he who gives to the man of wealth, will only come to be in need.
read chapter 22 in BBE
He that oppresseth the poor, it is to enrich him; he that giveth to the rich, [bringeth] only to want.
read chapter 22 in DARBY
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.
read chapter 22 in KJV
read chapter 22 in WBT
Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, Both come to poverty.
read chapter 22 in WEB
He is oppressing the poor to multiply to him, He is giving to the rich -- only to want.
read chapter 22 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 16. - He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches (so the Vulgate), and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want. There are various renderings and explanations of this verse. The Authorized Version says that he who oppresseth the poor to enrich himself, and he who wastes his means by giving to those who do not need it, will come to poverty. But the antithesis of this distich is thus lost. The Hebrew literally rendered brings out the contrast, Whosoever oppresseth the poor, it is for his gain; whosoever giveth to the rich, it is for his loss. Delitzsch explains the sentence thus: "He who enriches himself by extortion from the poor, at any rate gains what he desires; but he who gives to the rich impoverishes himself in vain, has no thanks, reaps only disappointment." One cannot but feel that the maxim thus interpreted is poor and unsatisfactory. The interpretation in the 'Speaker's Commentary' is more plausible: The oppressor of the poor will himself suffer in a similar mode, and will have to surrender his ill-gotten gains to some equally unscrupulous rich man. But the terse antithesis of the original is wholly obscured by this view of the distich. It is far better, with Hitzig, Ewald, and others, to take the gain in the first hemistich as that of the poor man, equivalent to "doth but bring him gain;" though the sentence is not necessarily to be explained as suggesting that the injustice which the poor man suffers at the hand of his wealthy neighbour is a stimulus to him to exert himself in order to better his position, and thus indirectly tends to his enrichment. The maxim is really conceived in the religious style of so many of these apparently worldly pronouncements, and states a truth in the moral government of God intimated elsewhere, e.g. Proverbs 13:22; Proverbs 28:8; and that truth is that the riches extorted from the poor man will in the end redound to his benefit, that by God's providential control the oppression and injustice from which he has suffered shall work to his good. In the second hemistich the loss is that of the rich man. By adding to the wealth of the rich the donor increases his indolence, encourages his luxury, vice, and extravagance, and thus leads to his ruin - "bringeth only to want. Septuagint, "He that calumniates (συκοφαντῶν) the poor increaseth his own substance, but giveth to the rich at a loss (ἐπ ἐλάσσονι)" i.e. so as to lessen his substance.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) He that oppresseth the poor . . .--Rather, he that does so is (thereby) giving to the rich, only to (his own) loss. That is, he shall be none the better for the act of oppression, but shall have to disgorge his prey to some one richer and more powerful than himself, and thereby be reduced to poverty.
