Bible Strands
Proverbs 1:19
Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Solomon concludes the description of ambushers in Proverbs 1:18 and immediately precedes Wisdom’s public proclamation in Proverbs 1:20. The verse functions as a summary statement regarding the fate of the greedy.
The words — בָּ֑צַע (ba.tza) means unjust gain, and נֶ֖פֶשׁ (ne.fesh) denotes the life of its possessors. The text explicitly states that ill-gotten wealth takes the life of those who accumulate it.
The thread — Proverbs 15:27 connects greedy pursuit of unjust gain with bringing trouble on one’s household, while 2 Peter 2:3 describes greed as the motive behind false teachers exploiting others with deceptive words.
Why it lands — It requires a reader to acknowledge that the text declares exploitation destroys the exploiter before demanding a choice between that path and Wisdom’s call.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 15:27 He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household, but he who hates bribes will live.
- 2 Peter 2:3 In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
- Proverbs 23:3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
- Jeremiah 22:17 “But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”
- Micah 2:1 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.
- Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
- James 5:1 Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- 2 Kings 5:20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, by not accepting what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”
- Ecclesiastes 5:13 There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
- Micah 3:10 who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.