⁴ Wealth makes many “friends”;
    poverty drives them all away.

²⁰ The poor are despised even by their neighbors,
    while the rich have many “friends.”

⁶ Many seek favors from a ruler;
    everyone is the friend of a person who gives gifts!

⁷ The relatives of the poor despise them;
    how much more will their friends avoid them!
Though the poor plead with them,
    their friends are gone.

¹³ “My relatives stay far away,
    and my friends have turned against me.
¹⁴ My family is gone,
    and my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My servants and maids consider me a stranger.
    I am like a foreigner to them.
¹⁶ When I call my servant, he doesn’t come;
    I have to plead with him!
¹⁷ My breath is repulsive to my wife.
    I am rejected by my own family.

¹⁵ My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook
    that overflows its banks in the spring
¹⁶     when it is swollen with ice and melting snow.
¹⁷ But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears.
    The brook vanishes in the heat.
¹⁸ The caravans turn aside to be refreshed,
    but there is nothing to drink, so they die.
¹⁹ The caravans from Tema search for this water;
    the travelers from Sheba hope to find it.
²⁰ They count on it but are disappointed.
    When they arrive, their hopes are dashed.
²¹ You, too, have given no help.
    You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.
²² But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift?
    Have I begged for anything of yours for myself?
²³ Have I asked you to rescue me from my enemies,
    or to save me from ruthless people?

¹⁵ The wealth of the rich is their fortress;
    the poverty of the poor is their destruction.