11:28
Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:
28a
He who trusts in his riches will fall,
28b but the righteous will thrive like foliage.
The parallelism implies that the person who trusts in his riches is not righteous. It also implies that a righteous person trusts in the LORD rather than in his riches.
11:28a
He who trusts in his riches: This proverb does not specify why an ungodly person trusts in his wealth. Probably he relies on it either to accomplish his goals in life or to save himself from the consequences of his actions.
will fall:
Some scholars think that this verb is a metaphor with an implied image. The image may be a building that falls down. It may also be a falling tree or falling leaves, in contrast with “a green leaf” in 11:28b. For example:
fall like the leaves of autumn (Good News Translation)
Any of these implied ideas is possible. But the Hebrew text does not make any of them explicit. It is more likely that fall is simply a figurative way to say “be destroyed” or “come to ruin.” (See the notes on the same word in 11:5b.)
Some other ways to translate this line are:
Those who trust in riches will be ruined (New Century Version)
-or-
Trust in your money and down you go! (New Living Translation (2004))
11:28b
but the righteous will thrive like foliage: This simile compares righteous people to a vigorously growing plant. The meaning of this figure of speech is that the righteous will flourish or prosper. This prosperity may include becoming more numerous, healthy, wealthy, or influential. See Psalm 1:3. Some other ways to translate this simile are:
will be healthy like a green leaf (New Century Version)
-or-
flourish like leaves in spring (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
will prosper like healthy plants (Contemporary English Version)
© 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.