Proverbs 11:25

Study note

Setting — Solomon's wisdom instruction to a student; no narrative occasion, part of a series of contrast-pairs (vv. 24–26) on giving versus hoarding.

The words — מַרְוֶה (marveh, "one who gives water") and יוֹרֶה (yore', "he will be given water") frame the verse in the most physical terms: not abstract blessing but the act of providing drinking water and receiving it in return.

The thread — The same reciprocal principle appears in Matthew 5:7 (mercy returns to the merciful), 2 Corinthians 9:6 (sowing generously reaps generously), and Isaiah 58:7 (sharing bread with the hungry as the true fast).

Why it lands — The verse states a pattern, not a transaction: the text asserts that the one who withholds is already in the state of poverty (v. 24), and the one who gives is already in the state of fullness (v. 25); the reader is asked to see generosity as a description of who one is, not a strategy for what one will get.

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.