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1. Both poverty and riches are the gift of God; otherwise the wise man needed not to have prayed, "Give me neither poverty nor riches," if it had been in his own power to make the choice.

2. Neither poverty nor riches are such gifts for which a wise man would pray, because each of these conditions have their dangers and inconveniences annexed to them.

3. The way to remove these inconveniences is to remove far from us vanity and lies, and then we may so moderate ourselves in each of these estates as to be humble before God in the midst of our abundance, and thankful to Him in our distress.

4. Notwithstanding this, yet the safest, and consequently the most desirable, course of life, is a middle state between poverty and riches; and it is for the interest, as well as for the ease of man, that God would let us neither want nor abound, but only "feed us with food convenient for us."

(C. Hickman, D.D.)

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KJV: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

WEB: Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;