10:4
Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:
4a
Idle hands make one poor,
4b but diligent hands bring wealth.
10:4a–b
Idle hands…diligent hands: These phrases are figures of speech (synecdoche). In these figures of speech, hands are parts of the body that represent the entire person. Here they contrast a person who is lazy, idle, or negligent with one who is diligent, industrious, or hard working. For example:
The one who is lazy becomes poor, but the one who works diligently becomes wealthy. (NET Bible)
This meaning may also be expressed in other ways. For example:
Being lazy will make you poor, but hard work will make you rich (Good News Translation)
-or-
If a person is lazy, he will become poor, but if he is industrious, he will become rich.
-or-
Laziness causes poverty, but diligence results in wealth.
10:4a
poor: In Hebrew, this word for poor refers to people who are extremely poor. A person who is poor has no money or other resources to rely on.
In Proverbs, there are at least three other Hebrew word roots with similar aspects of meaning. In some contexts, they may emphasize one aspect of meaning more than another. But usually, they do not contrast with each other.
They all refer to people who lack money and other material resources. Often they are in need of food, clothing, and shelter. These people have low social status. They are often oppressed or treated unfairly by those who are wealthy and have higher status.
English versions translate them in different ways, depending on the context. Here almost all versions use the general words “poverty” or poor.
Some languages may have several words that refer to “poverty” or poor people. If that is true in your language, you may use a general word, as in most English versions. You may also use a more specific word that refers to extremely poor people.
In each verse where one of the Hebrew words for “poor” occurs, you will need to make a similar decision. In some languages, it will be appropriate to use the same word in most contexts. In other languages, it may be more effective to use a word that emphasizes a specific aspect of poverty.
© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.