Proverbs 22:27

If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The wisdom author addresses a reader considering financial guarantees, placing this warning directly after a prohibition against posting security for others' debts.

The words — אֵֽין (ein) translates literally as "not" or "nothing," and מִ֝שְׁכָּבְ/ךָ֗ (mishka'vekha) means "your bed," representing the borrower's primary domestic shelter.

The thread — The passage shares its focus on debt collateral with Proverbs 20:16, Exodus 22:26, and 2 Kings 4:1, all of which address the seizure of clothing or property as security.

Why it lands — The text states that defaulting on a guaranteed debt will result in the loss of one's bed, demanding that a reader refuse to pledge security for another's obligations.

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

אִם־'im-if אֵֽין־'ein-notלְךָ֥le./Kha[belongs] to/ youלְשַׁלֵּ֑םle./sha.Lemto/ pay לָ֥מָּהLa./mah<to>/ why?יִקַּ֥חyi.Kachwill anyone take מִ֝שְׁכָּבְךָ֗mish.ka.ve./khabed/ your מִתַּחְתֶּֽיךָ׃mi./tach.Tei./khafrom/ under/ you

King James Version

If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

Cross-references

Proverbs 20:16 Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.
Exodus 22:26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,
2 Kings 4:1 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”