This verse is one of the few in these sayings that mentions “the Lord“. There is no contrast between the lines, but rather each line consists of an independent statement as in verse 18.

“The blessing of the Lord makes rich”: “The blessing of the Lord” refers to the goodness or kindness of the Lord. The intention of this verse is to emphasize that the good things that belong to the righteous are granted to them from “the Lord“. The emphasis is properly stated in Good News Translation, but not in Revised Standard Version: “It is the Lord‘s blessing. . ..” We may also translate “The blessing of the Lord is what gives a person riches.” In some languages this thought is expressed, for example, “God shows his good heart by giving some people riches” or “It is God’s goodness that enables some people to have wealth.”

“And he adds no sorrow with it”: As the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation footnotes show, the second line may be understood in two ways. In the Revised Standard Version text the word translated “sorrow” is the object of the verb “adds”. In the Revised Standard Version footnote the same word is taken to be the subject of “adds”, “toil adds nothing. . ..” See also 5.10; 14.23; and Psa 127.1-2. This line is better translated as in the Revised Standard Version footnote or as in the Good News Translation text: “Hard work can make you no richer.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .