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Read the Bible

Brenton's Septuagint

Proverbs 6:11

Then poverty comes upon thee as an evil traveller, and want as a swift courier: but if thou be diligent, thine harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Idleness;   Poverty;   Rising;   Slothfulness;   Tramp;   Young Men;   Thompson Chain Reference - Abundance-Want;   Poverty;   Poverty-Riches;   Want;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Early Rising;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Poor;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Israel, History of;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ethics;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Boyhood ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Education;   Poor;   Poverty;   Proverbs, Book of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Menander;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and your poverty will come like a robber,your need, like a bandit.
Hebrew Names Version
So your poverty will come as a robber, And your scarcity as an armed man.
King James Version
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
English Standard Version
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.
New Century Version
So you will be as poor as if you had been robbed; you will have as little as if you had been held up.
New English Translation
and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need like an armed man.
Amplified Bible
So your poverty will come like an approaching prowler who walks [slowly, but surely] And your need [will come] like an armed man [making you helpless].
New American Standard Bible
Then your poverty will come in like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.
World English Bible
So your poverty will come as a robber, And your scarcity as an armed man.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore thy pouertie commeth as one that trauaileth by the way, and thy necessitie like an armed man.
Legacy Standard Bible
Your poverty will come in like a vagabondAnd your want like an armed man.
Berean Standard Bible
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.
Contemporary English Version
Suddenly, everything is gone, as though it had been taken by an armed robber.
Complete Jewish Bible
and poverty comes marching in on you, scarcity hits you like an invading soldier.
Darby Translation
So shall thy poverty come as a roving plunderer, and thy penury as an armed man.
Easy-to-Read Version
But then you sleep and sleep and become poorer and poorer. Soon you will have nothing. It will be as if a thief came and stole everything you owned.
George Lamsa Translation
And then poverty shall come upon you, and distress shall overtake you; become a successful man.
Good News Translation
Lexham English Bible
like a robber shall your poverty come, and what you lack like an armed man.
Literal Translation
so shall your poverty come as one walking, and your need like an armed man.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
so shal pouerte come vnto the as one yt trauayleth by the waye, & necessite like a wapened man.
American Standard Version
So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man.
Bible in Basic English
Then loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man
JPS Old Testament (1917)
So shall thy poverty come as a runner, and thy want as an armed man.
King James Version (1611)
So shall thy pouertie come as one that trauaileth, and thy want as an armed man.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
So shall pouertie come vnto thee as one that trauayleth by the way, and necessitie like a weaponed man.
English Revised Version
So shall thy poverty come as a robber, and thy want as an armed man.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And nedynesse, as a weigoere, schal come to thee; and pouert, as an armed man. Forsothe if thou art not slow, thi ripe corn schal come as a welle; and nedynesse schal fle fer fro thee.
Update Bible Version
So shall your poverty come as a robber, And your want as an armed man.
Webster's Bible Translation
So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and thy want as an armed man.
New King James Version
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.
New Living Translation
then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
New Life Bible
and being poor will come upon you like a robber, and your need like a man ready to fight.
New Revised Standard
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So shall come in, as a highwayman, thy poverty, and, thy want, as one armed with a shield.
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.
Revised Standard Version
and poverty will come upon you like a vagabond, and want like an armed man.
Young's Literal Translation
And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.

Contextual Overview

6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; and see, and emulate his ways, and become wiser than he. 7 For whereas he has no husbandry, nor any one to compel him, and is under no master, 8 he prepares food for himself in the summer, and lays by abundant store in harvest. Or go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and how earnestly she is engaged in her work; whose labours kings and private men use for health, and she is desired and respected by all: though weak in body, she is advanced by honouring wisdom. 9 How long wilt thou lie, O sluggard? and when wilt thou awake out of sleep? 10 Thou sleepest a little, and thou restest a little, and thou slumberest a short time, and thou foldest thine arms over thy breast a little. 11 Then poverty comes upon thee as an evil traveller, and want as a swift courier: but if thou be diligent, thine harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Proverbs 10:4, Proverbs 13:4, Proverbs 20:4

Reciprocal: Job 15:24 - as a king Job 17:3 - strike Proverbs 6:4 - General Proverbs 13:25 - the belly Ecclesiastes 4:5 - fool

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
And Noe was five hundred years old, and he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:2
And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them,
Genesis 7:1
And the Lord God said to Noe, Enter thou and all thy family into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Genesis 10:9
He was a giant hunter before the Lord God; therefore they say, As Nebrod the giant hunter before the Lord.
Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were evil, and exceedingly sinful before God.
2 Chronicles 34:27
forasmuch as thy heart was ashamed, and thou was humbled before me when thou heardest my words against this place, and against the inhabitants of it, and thou wast humbled before me, and didst rend thy garments, and didst weep before me; I also have heard, saith the Lord.
Psalms 11:5
The Lord tries the righteous and the ungodly: and he that loves unrighteousness hates his own soul.
Psalms 55:9
Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen iniquity and gain saying in the city.
Psalms 140:11
A talkative man shall not prosper on the earth: evils shall hunt the unrighteous man to destruction.
Isaiah 60:18
And injustice shall no more be heard in thy land, nor destruction nor misery in thy coasts; but thy walls shall be called Salvation, and thy gates Sculptured Work.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth,.... Either swiftly and suddenly, as a traveller makes haste to get to his journey's end, and comes upon his family or friends at an unawares; or though he moves gradually, by slow paces and silent steps, yet surely: and so it signifies that poverty should come upon the sluggard very quickly, and before he was aware: and though it might come by degrees, yet it would certainly come;

and thy want as an armed man; or, "thy wants as a man of shield" u: denoting many wants that should come rushing in one upon another, like a man armed with shield and buckler; appearing with great terror and force, not to be resisted. It denotes the unavoidableness of being brought into penury and want by sloth, and the terribleness of such a condition. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, add,

"but if thou art not slothful, thy harvest shall come as a fountain (as the inundation of a fountain, Arabic); but want shall flee as an evil racer (as an evil man, Arabic; far from thee, Vulgate Latin):''

but this is not in the Hebrew text.

u כאיש מנן "tanquam vir clypei", Montanus; "vir clypeatus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The similitude is drawn from the two sources of Eastern terror: the “traveler,” i. e., “the thief in the night,” coming suddenly to plunder; the “armed man,” literally “the man of the shield,” the armed robber. The habit of indolence is more fatally destructive than these marauders.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 6:11. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth — That is, with slow, but surely approaching steps.

Thy want as an armed man. — That is, with irresistible fury; and thou art not prepared to oppose it. The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Arabic add the following clause to this verse: -

"But if thou wilt be diligent, thy harvest shall be as a fountain; and poverty shall flee far away from thee."

It is also thus in the Old MS. Bible: If forsothe unslow thou shul ben; shul comen as a welle thi rip; and nede fer shal fleen fro thee.


 
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