Proverbs 6:11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

◄ Proverbs 6:11 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

English Standard Version
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

New American Standard Bible
Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.

King James Bible
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

International Standard Version
and your poverty will come on you like a bandit and your desperation like an armed man.

American Standard Version
So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And want shall come upon thee, as a traveller, and poverty as a man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee.

Darby Bible Translation
So shall thy poverty come as a roving plunderer, and thy penury as an armed man.

Young's Literal Translation
And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.

Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

6:6-11 Diligence in business is every man's wisdom and duty; not so much that he may attain worldly wealth, as that he may not be a burden to others, or a scandal to the church. The ants are more diligent than slothful men. We may learn wisdom from the meanest insects, and be shamed by them. Habits of indolence and indulgence grow upon people. Thus life runs to waste; and poverty, though at first at a distance, gradually draws near, like a traveller; and when it arrives, is like an armed man, too strong to be resisted. All this may be applied to the concerns of our souls. How many love their sleep of sin, and their dreams of worldly happiness! Shall we not seek to awaken such? Shall we not give diligence to secure our own salvation?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

11. and the fruits of their self-indulgence and indolence presented.

as … travelleth—literally, "one who walks backwards and forwards," that is, a highwayman.

armed man—that is, one prepared to destroy.