Bible Strands
Proverbs 21:17
He who loves pleasure will become poor; the one who loves wine and oil will never be rich.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The wisdom writer addresses a listener navigating the path of understanding, using the immediate context to contrast the fate of those who stray from wisdom with those who remain upright.
The words — אֹהֵב ('o.Hev) translates literally as "loves," and מַ֭חְסוֹר (Mach.sor) means "poverty" or lack. These terms anchor the verse's direct cause-and-effect warning about indulgence.
The thread — The same causal link appears in Proverbs 23:21, which ties drunkenness and gluttony to poverty and rags. The New Testament extends the warning in 1 Timothy 5:6 and 2 Timothy 3:4, equating a life devoted to pleasure with spiritual death and a displacement of God.
Why it lands — The text states that pursuing pleasure and luxury directly produces financial lack. It demands a reader to audit their attachments and choose disciplined stewardship over immediate gratification.
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 loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
- 1 Timothy 5:6 But she who lives for pleasure is dead even while she is still alive.
- 2 Timothy 3:4 traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
- Proverbs 5:10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
- Proverbs 21:20 Precious treasures and oil are in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man consumes them.
- Luke 15:13 After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.
- Luke 16:24 So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’