Bible Strands
Proverbs 14:4
Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of the ox.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author of Proverbs addresses a general audience of learners, placing this proverb between teachings on a fool’s destructive speech and the reliability of witnesses. It functions as a practical observation within a collection of wisdom instructions.
The words — אֵב֣וּס ('e.Vus) translates literally as “feeding trough,” and שֽׁוֹר (Shor) means “ox.” The text states that without the ox, the trough remains empty, while the ox’s strength yields an abundant harvest.
The thread — The ox’s role in production appears in 1 Corinthians 9:9, which cites the Mosaic law against muzzling an ox during threshing. The produce (תְּ֝בוּא֗וֹת) mentioned here parallels the food supply described in Proverbs 13:23 and the bread scarcity noted in Amos 4:6.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that provision requires proper means and labor. It instructs the reader to value the strength and tools that generate abundance rather than expecting results without them.
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
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
- Proverbs 13:23 Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away.
- Amos 4:6 “I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.