This saying in Hebrew is striking in its play on the similarity of sound and the contrasting sense of the final word in each line: “profit” is mothar, and “want” or “poverty” is machsor. Like 12.11; 21.17; and 28.19 this saying encourages hard work and discourages idle talk.

“In all toil there is profit”: “Toil” translates a word meaning “hard labor.” In 10.10 the word (translated “trouble”) is associated with pain or suffering. New English Bible/Revised English Bible translate it “the pains of toil.” “There is” expresses the relation between work and “profit”, that is, “hard work makes [provides, earns] profit.” “Profit” here may be taken as financial gain or as something that is worth achieving. We may translate, for example, “All hard work earns an income” or “All hard work accomplishes something.”

“But mere talk tends only to want”: “Mere talk” is literally “word of the lips.” In this context “word of the lips” is idle talk or boasting that is done in place of work. In “tends only to want” Revised Standard Version supplies “tends”. It may be expressed as “leads only to poverty” or “causes a person to be poor.”

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 .