Bible Strands
Proverbs 11:29
He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The book of Proverbs addresses students of wisdom, contrasting the fates of those who trust in wealth with those who live righteously.
The words — עוֹכֵר (o.Kher) literally means "troubles" or "uproots," and ר֑וּחַ (Ru.ach) means "wind," denoting insubstantiality.
The thread — The warning against domestic ruin from greed appears in Proverbs 15:27, while the theme of futile gain mirrors the emptiness described in Ecclesiastes 5:16.
Why it lands — The text states that one who brings trouble on his house will inherit only emptiness and become a servant to the wise of heart. It demands a reader to abandon self-destructive ambition and submit to discerning, heart-centered wisdom.
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
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 5:16 This too is a grievous affliction: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?
- Proverbs 14:19 The evil bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
- Proverbs 15:27 He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household, but he who hates bribes will live.
- 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!
- Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
- Joshua 7:24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor.
- 1 Samuel 25:3 His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.
- 1 Samuel 25:17 Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”
- 1 Samuel 25:38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.
- Hosea 8:7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.