Proverbs 28:3
WEB
A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.
BSB
A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.
KJV
A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
Matthew Henry
Hebrew interlinear
H1397
n-m — valiant, warrior, person
Derivation: from 1396;
properly, a valiant man or warrior; generally, a person simply
KJV: every one, man, × mighty.
n.m — man
גֶּ֫בֶר 66 n.m. man;—man as strong, disting. fr. women, children, and non-combatants whom he is to defend, chiefly poetic
H7326
v — be destitute
Derivation: a primitive root;
to be destitute
KJV: lack, needy, (make self) poor (man).
vb — be in want
[רוּשׁ or רִישׁ] 24 vb. be in want, poor
Qal young lions are in want and hunger
Hithpō‛lēl one impoverishing himself
H6231
v — press upon, oppress, defraud, violate, overflow
Derivation: a primitive root (compare 6229);
to press upon, i.e. oppress, defraud, violate, overflow
KJV: get deceitfully, deceive, defraud, drink up, (use) oppress(-ion), -or), do violence (wrong).
oppress
עָשַׁק oppress, wrong, extort
H1800
a — dangling, weak, thin
Derivation: from 1809;
properly, dangling, i.e. (by implication) weak or thin
KJV: lean, needy, poor (man), weaker.
adj — low
דַּל adj. low, weak, poor, thin (especially common in Wisd. lit. and poet.)
H4306
n-m — rain
Derivation: from 4305;
rain
KJV: rain.
n.m — rain
מָטַר n.m. rain
H5502
v — scrape off
Derivation: a primitive root;
to scrape off
KJV: sweep (away).
vb — prostrate
[סָחַף] vb. prostrate
Qal a prostrating rain
Niph. why are thy mighty ones (or, why is thy bull) prostrated?
H369
np — nonentity
Derivation: as if from a primitive root meaning to be nothing or not exist;
a nonentity; generally used as a negative particle
KJV: else, except, fail, (father-) less, be gone, in(-curable), neither, never, no (where), none, nor, (any, thing), not, nothing, to nought, past, un(-searchable), well-nigh, without. Compare 370.
subst — nothing
אַ֫יִן, אָ֑֫יִן cstr. אֵין subst. prop. nothing, nought
1. to nothing, as nothing
2. cstr. אֵין, very freq. as particle of negation, is not, are not, was not, were not
3. אֵין לְ׳, with subst., or pron., there is (was) not to … = … have, has, had, etc. not
4. in circumst. clauses
5. with inf. and ל׳, it is not to …
6. with prefixes
H3899
n-m — food, bread, grain
Derivation: from 3898; See also 1036
food (for man or beast), especially bread, or grain (for making it)
KJV: (shew-) bread, × eat, food, fruit, loaf, meat, victuals.
n.m — bread
לֶ֫חֶם 296 n.m. and (rarely) f. bread, food
Bible49 app
Get translation compare, commentary, and interlinear study — offline, on iPhone and Mac.
See Bible49
Verse 3
Proverbs 28:3
See here, 1. How hard-hearted poor people frequently are to one another, not only not doing such good offices as they might do one to another, but imposing upon and over-reaching one another. Those who know by experience the miseries of poverty should be compassionate to those who suffer the like, but they are inexcusably barbarous if they be injurious to them. 2. How imperious and griping those commonly are who, being indigent and necessitous, get into power. If a prince prefer a poor man, he forgets that ever he was poor, and none shall be so oppressive to the poor as he, nor squeeze them so cruelly. The hungry leech and the dry sponge suck most. Set a beggar on horseback, and he will ride without mercy. He is like a sweeping rain, which washes away the corn in the ground, and lays and beats out that which has grown, so that it leaves no food. Princes therefore ought not to put those into places of trust who are poor, and in debt, and behind-hand in the world, nor any who make it their main business to enrich themselves.