Bible Strands
Proverbs 20:21
An inheritance gained quickly will not be blessed in the end.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wisdom writer addresses a general audience within a structured collection of moral instructions, positioning this warning between commands against cursing parents and against personal vengeance.
The words — מְבֹהֶלֶת (me.vu.che.let) describes a startled or hastily acquired gain, directly modifying נַחֲלָה (Na.cha.lah), which literally means an inheritance or allotted portion.
The thread — The pattern of rapid wealth yielding negative outcomes or being redirected appears in Proverbs 13:22, Proverbs 28:8, and 1 Timothy 6:9.
Why it lands — The verse states that quick accumulation lacks final blessing, then instructs the reader to abandon opportunistic wealth-seeking in favor of patient reliance on divine timing.
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
An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
Cross-references
- 1 Timothy 6:9 Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
- Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Proverbs 28:8 He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.
- Job 27:16 Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,
- Proverbs 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
- Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man will abound with blessings, but one eager to be rich will not go unpunished.
- Proverbs 28:22 A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.
- Habakkuk 2:6 Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’
- Malachi 2:2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.
- Zechariah 5:4 I will send it out, declares the LORD of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”