Proverbs 1:19
New International Version
Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it.

New Living Translation
Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money; it robs them of life.

English Standard Version
Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

Berean Standard Bible
Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

King James Bible
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

New King James Version
So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.

New American Standard Bible
Such are the ways of everyone who makes unjust gain; It takes away the life of its possessors.

NASB 1995
So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors.

NASB 1977
So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors.

Legacy Standard Bible
So are the paths of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its possessors.

Amplified Bible
So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; Greed takes away the lives of its possessors.

Christian Standard Bible
Such are the paths of all who make profit dishonestly; it takes the lives of those who receive it.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Such are the paths of all who make profit dishonestly; it takes the lives of those who receive it.

American Standard Version
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

Contemporary English Version
The wealth you get from crime robs you of your life.

English Revised Version
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; it taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
This is what happens to everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. Greed takes away his life.

Good News Translation
Robbery always claims the life of the robber--this is what happens to anyone who lives by violence.

International Standard Version
Such is the way of all those who seek illicit gain— it takes away the lives of those who possess it.

Majority Standard Bible
Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

NET Bible
Such are the ways of all who gain profit unjustly; it takes away the life of those who obtain it!

New Heart English Bible
So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.

Webster's Bible Translation
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; who taketh away the life of its owners.

World English Bible
So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
So [are] the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, "" It takes the life of its owners.

Young's Literal Translation
So are the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.

Smith's Literal Translation
So the ways of every one plundering plunder; he will take the soul of those possessing it.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
So the wage of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Thus, the ways of all those who are greedy seize the souls of those who possess.

New American Bible
This is the way of everyone greedy for loot: it takes away their lives.

New Revised Standard Version
Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Such are the ways of all who practice iniquity, who take away the life of their owners.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
So are the ways of all who do evil and take the lives of their Masters.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
These are the ways of all that perform lawless deeds; for by ungodliness they destroy their own life.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Enticement of Sin
18But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. 19Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

Cross References
1 Timothy 6:9-10
Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. / For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

James 4:1-3
What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you? / You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. / And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

Matthew 16:26
What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Luke 12:15-21
And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” / Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. / So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ...

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. / For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. / The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Mark 8:36-37
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? / Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Ecclesiastes 5:10-11
He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile. / When good things increase, so do those who consume them; what then is the profit to the owner, except to behold them with his eyes?

Jeremiah 17:11
Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.”

Habakkuk 2:9-10
Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster! / You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.

Micah 2:1-3
Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands. / They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance. / Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I am planning against this nation a disaster from which you cannot free your necks. Then you will not walk so proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

Isaiah 5:8
Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.

Psalm 62:10
Place no trust in extortion or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, / nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Colossians 3:5-6
Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. / Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

Ephesians 5:5
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.


Treasury of Scripture

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which takes away the life of the owners thereof.

every

Proverbs 15:27
He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.

Proverbs 23:3,4
Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat…

2 Samuel 18:11-13
And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle…

taketh

Job 31:39
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

Ecclesiastes 5:13
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

Jump to Previous
Dishonest End Fate Gain Gainer Gains Goes Greedy Ill-Gotten Life Owners Possessors Profit Search Thereof Violence Ways
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Dishonest End Fate Gain Gainer Gains Goes Greedy Ill-Gotten Life Owners Possessors Profit Search Thereof Violence Ways
Proverbs 1
1. The use of the proverbs
7. An exhortation to fear God, and believe his word
10. to avoid the enticing of sinners
20. Wisdom complains of her contempt
24. She threatens her contemners














Such is the fate
This phrase introduces the inevitable outcome or destiny that awaits those who follow a particular path. In the Hebrew text, the word for "fate" can be understood as a consequence or end result. The Bible often emphasizes the principle of sowing and reaping, where actions lead to corresponding outcomes. This serves as a warning that certain behaviors, particularly those that are sinful or unethical, have predictable and often dire consequences.

of all who are greedy
The Hebrew word for "greedy" is "betsa," which implies a covetous desire for more than what is rightfully one's own. Greed is consistently condemned in Scripture as it reflects a heart that is not content with God's provision. It is a form of idolatry, placing material wealth above spiritual values. The Bible teaches that greed leads to a multitude of sins and ultimately separates individuals from God.

for unjust gain
"Unjust gain" refers to wealth or profit acquired through dishonest or unethical means. The Hebrew term "betsa" is often associated with plunder or ill-gotten wealth. Throughout the Bible, God calls His people to pursue justice and righteousness, and to avoid deceitful practices. The pursuit of unjust gain is contrary to God's character and His commandments, and it leads to spiritual and often physical ruin.

it robs them of life
The phrase "robs them of life" highlights the destructive nature of greed and unjust gain. In Hebrew, the word for "robs" can also mean to take away or destroy. This is not merely a physical death but a spiritual one, where the pursuit of wealth leads to a loss of true life, which is found in a relationship with God. Jesus taught that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions (Luke 12:15), and this proverb echoes that truth by showing that the love of money can lead to spiritual death.

(19) So are the ways . . .--The conclusion of the discourse. The same phrase occurs in Job 8:13.

Which taketh away . . .--That is, covetousness takes away the life of him who has this vice in his heart, who is, according to the Hebrew idiom, the "owner" of it. (Comp. similar expressions in Proverbs 22:24; Proverbs 23:2, where an "angry" man and a man "given to appetite" are literally an owner of anger and appetite.)

Verse 19. - So am the ways of every one that is greedy of gain. The epiphonema or moral of the preceding address. So are the ways, or such is the lot (as Delitzsch), or such are the paths (as Zockler), i.e. so deceitful, so ruinous, are the ways. כֵּן (chen,) is here used as a qualitative adverb. Ways; אָרְחות (ar'khoth), the plural of לֺארַח (orakh), a poet. word, equivalent in the first instance to "way," i.q. דֶרֶך (derekh), and metaphorically applied to any one's ways, his manner of life and its result, and hence lot, as in Job 8:12, and hence the expression coven the three preceding verses. That is greedy of gain (בֹצֵעַ בָּצַע, botsea batsa); literally, concupiscentis concupiscentium lucri; i.e. eagerly longing after gain; he who greedily desires riches (avari, Vulgate). Gain; batsa in pause, from בֶּצַע. (betsa), which takes its meaning from the verb בָּצַע (batsa), "to out in pieces, to break," and hence means properly that which is cut or broken off and taken by any one for himself, and so unjust gain - anything whatever fraudulently acquired, as in Proverbs 28:16, where it is translated "covetousness" (Authorized Version); cf. Isaiah 33:15; Proverbs 15:27. The idea of greed and covetousness enters largely into the word. Which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. The pronoun "which" does not occur in the original. The nominative to "taketh away" (יִקָּת, yikkath) is "gain;" the "unjust gain." (betsa) takes away the life of its owners, i.e. of those who are under its power. Owners thereof (בְּעָלָיו, b'alayo) does not necessarily imply that they are in actual possession of the unjust gain, but rather refers to the influence which the lust for gain exercises over them. The expression in this second hemistich does not mean that the rapacious take the life of their comrades who possess the gain, as Rabbi Salomon; nor as the Vulgate, "the ways of the avaricious man take away the lives of those who possess them." For the phrase, "taketh away the life," as importing a violent taking away, cf. Psalm 31:13; 1 Kings 19:10. The sentiment of the verse is well expressed in 1 Timothy 6:10, "For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Such [is]
כֵּ֗ן (kên)
Adverb
Strong's 3651: So -- thus

the fate
אָ֭רְחוֹת (’ā·rə·ḥō·wṯ)
Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 734: A well-trodden road, a caravan

of all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

who are greedy,
בֹּ֣צֵֽעַ (bō·ṣê·a‘)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1214: To cut off, break off, gain by violence

whose unjust gain
בָּ֑צַע (bā·ṣa‘)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1215: Gain made by violence, unjust gain, profit

takes
יִקָּֽח׃ (yiq·qāḥ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3947: To take

the lives
נֶ֖פֶשׁ (ne·p̄eš)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion

of its possessors.
בְּעָלָ֣יו (bə·‘ā·lāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1167: A master, a husband, owner


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 1:19 So are the ways of everyone who (Prov. Pro Pr)
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