Pro 14:23 | KingComments | STEP | To benefit or profit from anything requires labor, hard work ( ). Meaningless talk, chatter, only produces poverty. “Labor” means to make effort. But then you have something, and even more than you need. There is surplus to do good to others with it. What applies to daily work we can also apply spiritually. To learn God’s Word, we will have to labor. The yield is more than sufficient for our spiritual growth. It not only profits us ourselves, but it can also serve others. People should be more afraid of talk than of hard work. Through endless meetings and always talking, hardly anything comes about. The end result is “poverty” because there is just a lot of talking without knowing the practice. There may be some investment, but the money disappears into a bottomless pit and only debts remain. “Riches” is a “crown” for those who make good use of wisdom ( ). It adorns the wise who are rich that because they are wise, they use their riches to do good to others. In this they are imitators of God, Who with His riches also does only good. He lavished on own according to the riches of His grace in all wisdom and insight ( ). The second line of verse seems to say that fools only have their folly. If a fool is rich, that does not make him a better person. The way he handles his riches shows that his folly is incorrigible. Riches of wise men increase their prestige, while fools always remain fools even if they are rich. A pig remains a pig even if a gold ring is put through its snout.

‏ Proverbs 14:23

Profit and Riches

To benefit or profit from anything requires labor, hard work (Pro 14:23). Meaningless talk, chatter, only produces poverty. “Labor” means to make effort. But then you have something, and even more than you need. There is surplus to do good to others with it.

What applies to daily work we can also apply spiritually. To learn God’s Word, we will have to labor. The yield is more than sufficient for our spiritual growth. It not only profits us ourselves, but it can also serve others.

People should be more afraid of talk than of hard work. Through endless meetings and always talking, hardly anything comes about. The end result is “poverty” because there is just a lot of talking without knowing the practice. There may be some investment, but the money disappears into a bottomless pit and only debts remain.

“Riches” is a “crown” for those who make good use of wisdom (Pro 14:24). It adorns the wise who are rich that because they are wise, they use their riches to do good to others. In this they are imitators of God, Who with His riches also does only good. He lavished on own according to the riches of His grace in all wisdom and insight (Eph 1:7-8).

The second line of verse seems to say that fools only have their folly. If a fool is rich, that does not make him a better person. The way he handles his riches shows that his folly is incorrigible. Riches of wise men increase their prestige, while fools always remain fools even if they are rich. A pig remains a pig even if a gold ring is put through its snout.