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

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Riches increase one’s friends,
    but the poor lose their friends.

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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”

Many seek favor from rulers;
    everyone befriends a gift giver.
All the relatives of the poor hate them;
    even more, their friends stay far from them.
    When they pursue them with words, they aren’t there.

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

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

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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 wealthy rule over the poor;
    a borrower is a slave to a lender.

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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”

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;
    be smart enough to stop.
When your eyes fly to wealth
    it is gone; it grows wings
    like an eagle and flies heavenward.

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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”

Someone who is full refuses honey,
    but anything bitter tastes sweet to a hungry person.

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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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Better to be poor and walk in innocence
    than to be on crooked paths and wealthy.

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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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Those who become rich through high interest rates
    gather money for those who are generous to the poor.

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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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11 Rich people think they are wise,
    but an insightful poor person sees through them.

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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”

20 Reliable people will have abundant blessings,
    but those with get-rich-quick schemes won’t go unpunished.
21 Those who show favoritism aren’t good;
    people do wrong for a crust of bread.
22 The stingy try to get rich fast,
    unaware that loss will come to them.

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