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

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

²³ The poor plead for mercy;
    the rich answer with insults.

19 Better to be poor and honest
    than to be dishonest and a fool.

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

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.

¹⁷ If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord—
    and he will repay you!

²² Loyalty makes a person attractive.
    It is better to be poor than dishonest.

¹³ Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor
    will be ignored in their own time of need.

² The rich and poor have this in common:
    The Lord made them both.