Bible Strands
Proverbs 3:27
Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A father instructs his son within the sustained wisdom block of Proverbs 3:1–21, issuing a series of imperatives on how to live before God and neighbor.
The words — be'alav (בעליו) literally means "its owner" or "the one with a claim on it," shifting the frame from abstract merit to a specific person's rightful entitlement to what is already in your hand.
The thread — The same logic undergirds James 2:15 (knowing a neighbor's need and passing by) and Galatians 6:10 (doing good "as you have opportunity"), while Romans 13:7 extends the principle to every category of what is owed.
Why it lands — The verse removes the excuse of inability; it targets the moment when the means are present and the choice to act is yours alone.
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
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
Cross-references
- Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.
- James 2:15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
- Romans 13:7 Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
- James 5:4 Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Genesis 31:29 I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
- Micah 2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.