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

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Wealth adds many friends,
    but the poor will be left by his friends.

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

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.

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Many will seek favor before the generous,
    and everyone is the friend of a man of gifts.[a]
All the brothers of the poor, if they hate him,
    how much more will his friends keep away from him.
    He pursues them with words, and they are gone.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:6 Hebrew “gift”
  2. Proverbs 19:7 Or “when he pursues words and not them”

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

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Rich and poor have much in common;
    Yahweh is the maker of all of them.

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Just as the rich rule the poor,
    so the borrower is servant to the lender.

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The rich will rule over the poor,
    and the borrower is a slave of the lender.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 22:7 Literally “the borrower belonging to a man”

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.
    Be wise enough to know when to quit.
In the blink of an eye wealth disappears,
    for it will sprout wings
    and fly away like an eagle.

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Do not tire in order to become rich;
    out of your understanding, may you desist.
Your eyes will alight[a] on it, but there is nothing to it,
    for suddenly it will make for itself wings
    like an eagle and it will be exhausted in the heavens.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:5 Literally “cause to fly”

A person who is full refuses honey,
    but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

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An appetite[a] that is sated spurns honey,
    but to an appetite[b] that is ravenous, all bitterness is sweet.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 27:7 Literally “soul”
  2. Proverbs 27:7 Literally “soul”

Better to be poor and honest
    than to be dishonest and rich.

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Better to be poor and walking in one’s integrity
    than to be crooked of ways when one is rich.

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Income from charging high interest rates
    will end up in the pocket of someone who is kind to the poor.

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He who augments his wealth with interest and with usury
    gathers it for him who is kind to the poor.

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11 Rich people may think they are wise,
    but a poor person with discernment can see right through them.

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11 A man of wealth is wise in his own eyes,
    but the intelligent poor sees through him.

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20 The trustworthy person will get a rich reward,
    but a person who wants quick riches will get into trouble.

21 Showing partiality is never good,
    yet some will do wrong for a mere piece of bread.

22 Greedy people try to get rich quick
    but don’t realize they’re headed for poverty.

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20 A man of faithfulness has abundant blessings,
    but he who hurries to become rich will not go unpunished.
21 Showing partiality[a] is not good,
    and over a morsel of bread, a strong man will do wrong.
22 He who hurries for wealth is a man with an evil eye,[b]
    but he does not know that poverty will come upon him.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 28:21 Literally “Recognizing faces”
  2. Proverbs 28:22 Literally “a man of evil of eye”