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15 The wealth of the rich is the city of his strength;
    the ruin of the poor is their poverty.

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15 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city,(A)
    but poverty is the ruin of the poor.(B)

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20 The poor is disliked even by his neighbor,
    but the lovers of the rich are many.

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20 The poor are shunned even by their neighbors,
    but the rich have many friends.(A)

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23 The poor may speak entreaties,
    but the rich will answer roughly.

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23 The poor plead for mercy,
    but the rich answer harshly.

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19 Better a poor person walking in integrity
    than one who is perverse in his speech[a] and is a fool.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:1 Literally “in his lips”

19 Better the poor whose walk is blameless
    than a fool whose lips are perverse.(A)

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

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Wealth attracts many friends,
    but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.(A)

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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.[a]

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Footnotes

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

The poor are shunned by all their relatives—
    how much more do their friends avoid them!(A)
Though the poor pursue them with pleading,
    they are nowhere to be found.[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.

17 He who lends to Yahweh is he who is kind to the poor,
    and his benefits he will repay to him.

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17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,(A)
    and he will reward them for what they have done.(B)

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22 The craving of a man is his steadfast loyalty,
    and it is better to be poor than a liar.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:22 Literally “man of lying”

22 What a person desires is unfailing love[a];
    better to be poor than a liar.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:22 Or Greed is a person’s shame

13 He who closes his ear from the cry of the poor,
    he also will cry out and not be heard.

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13 Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor
    will also cry out(A) and not be answered.(B)

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

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Rich and poor have this in common:
    The Lord is the Maker of them all.(A)

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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”

The rich rule over the poor,
    and the borrower is slave to the lender.

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16 He who oppresses the poor in order to enrich himself,
    or gives to the rich, will come to poverty.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 22:16 Literally “only loss”

16 One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth
    and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.

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