Proverbs 18:23
New International Version
The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

New Living Translation
The poor plead for mercy; the rich answer with insults.

English Standard Version
The poor use entreaties, but the rich answer roughly.

Berean Standard Bible
The poor man pleads for mercy, but the rich man answers harshly.

King James Bible
The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.

New King James Version
The poor man uses entreaties, But the rich answers roughly.

New American Standard Bible
A poor person utters pleadings, But a rich person answers defiantly.

NASB 1995
The poor man utters supplications, But the rich man answers roughly.

NASB 1977
The poor man utters supplications, But the rich man answers roughly.

Legacy Standard Bible
The poor man speaks supplications, But the rich man answers with strong words.

Amplified Bible
The poor man pleads, But the rich man answers roughly.

Christian Standard Bible
The poor person pleads, but the rich one answers roughly.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The poor man pleads, but the rich one answers roughly.

American Standard Version
The poor useth entreaties; But the rich answereth roughly.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
The poor man speaks humbly and the rich man speaks hard things.

Contemporary English Version
The poor must beg for help, but the rich can give a harsh reply.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The poor will speak with supplications, and the rich will speak roughly.

English Revised Version
The poor useth entreaties: but the rich answereth roughly.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
A poor person is timid when begging, but a rich person is blunt when replying.

Good News Translation
When the poor speak, they have to be polite, but when the rich answer, they are rude.

International Standard Version
The poor person pleads for mercy, but the wealthy man responds harshly.

JPS Tanakh 1917
The poor useth entreaties; But the rich answereth impudently.

Literal Standard Version
The poor speaks [with] supplications, | And the rich answers fierce things.

Majority Standard Bible
The poor man pleads for mercy, but the rich man answers harshly.

New American Bible
The poor implore, but the rich answer harshly.

NET Bible
A poor person makes supplications, but a rich man answers harshly.

New Revised Standard Version
The poor use entreaties, but the rich answer roughly.

New Heart English Bible
The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

Webster's Bible Translation
The poor useth entreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.

World English Bible
The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

Young's Literal Translation
With supplications doth the poor speak, And the rich answereth fierce things.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Selfishness of the Unfriendly
22He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD. 23The poor man pleads for mercy, but the rich man answers harshly. 24A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.…

Cross References
James 2:3
If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, "Here is a seat of honor," but say to the poor man, "You must stand" or "Sit at my feet,"

James 2:6
But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

1 Kings 12:13
And the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the elders

2 Chronicles 10:13
And the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders

Proverbs 19:7
All the brothers of a poor man hate him--how much more do his friends avoid him! He may pursue them with pleading, but they are nowhere to be found.

Proverbs 22:7
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.


Treasury of Scripture

The poor uses entreaties; but the rich answers roughly.

poor

Ruth 2:7
And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.

1 Samuel 2:36
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

2 Kings 4:1,2
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen…

rich

Genesis 42:7,30
And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food…

Exodus 5:2
And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

1 Samuel 25:10,17
And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master…

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Answers Entreaties Fierce Gives Grace Harshly Makes Mercy Plead Pleads Poor Requests Rich Rough Roughly Speak Speaketh Supplications Use Useth Utters Wealth
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Answers Entreaties Fierce Gives Grace Harshly Makes Mercy Plead Pleads Poor Requests Rich Rough Roughly Speak Speaketh Supplications Use Useth Utters Wealth
Proverbs 18
1. A fool delights not in understanding














(23) The rich answereth roughly.--A warning against the hardening effect of riches. (Comp. Mark 10:23.)

Verse 23. - This and the following verse, and the first two verses of the next chapter, are not found in the chief manuscripts of the Septuagint, though in later codices they have been supplied from the version of Theodotion. The Codex Venetus Marcianus (23, Holmes and Parsons) is the only uncial that contains them. The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly. The irony of the passage is more strongly expressed by Siracides: "The rich man hath done wrong, and yet he threateneth withal: the poor is wronged, and he must intreat also" (Ecclus. 13:3). The rich man not only does wrong, but accompanies the injury with passionate language and abuse, as if he were the sufferer; while the poor man has humbly to ask pardon, as if he were in the wrong. Thus the Roman satirist writes -

"Libertas pauperis haec est:
Pulsatus rogat et pugnis concisus adorat,
Ut liceat paucis cum dentibus inde reverti."

(Juv., 'Sat.,' 3:299.) Aben Ezra explains the verse as denoting that a poor man making a submissive request from a rich man is answered cruelly and roughly. The hardening effect of wealth is seen in our Lord's parables of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16), and the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The poor man
רָ֑שׁ (rāš)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 7326: To be in want or poor

pleads for mercy,
תַּחֲנוּנִ֥ים (ta·ḥă·nū·nîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8469: Supplication for favor

but the rich man
וְ֝עָשִׁ֗יר (wə·‘ā·šîr)
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 6223: Rich

answers
יַעֲנֶ֥ה (ya·‘ă·neh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6030: To answer, respond

harshly.
עַזּֽוֹת׃ (‘az·zō·wṯ)
Adjective - feminine plural
Strong's 5794: Strong, vehement, harsh


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 18:23 The poor plead for mercy (Prov. Pro Pr)
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