5:10

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning. These parts are arranged in the form of a chiasm. The parts in 5:10b occur in the opposite order from the parallel parts in 5:10a.

10a lest strangers feast on your wealth,

10b and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

There is an ellipsis in 5:10b. In some languages, it may be necessary to supply the missing word from 5:10a. For example:

10b and ⌊lest⌋ your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

5:10a–b

strangers…the house of a foreigner: The house of a foreigner is parallel to strangers and probably refers to the family or household of that person or persons.

5:10a

feast on your wealth: In some languages, it is not natural to speak figuratively of “feasting” on someone’s wealth. If that is true in your language, it may be better to translate this phrase without using a figure of speech. For example:

enjoy your wealth (New Century Version)
-or-
take all your wealth (Good News Translation)

5:10b

your labors: The phrase your labors is parallel to “your wealth.” It is a figure of speech (metonymy) in which labor represents the wealth that the young man will earn through working. One way to express this idea is:

what you worked so hard for will go to someone else (New Century Version)

General Comment on 5:10a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel parts. See the Display for 5:10a–b (combined/reordered).

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