What Does Proverbs 13:22 Mean in the King James?
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The good man causes an inheritance to reach generations beyond himself, while the sinner’s wealth is already hidden away for another.
THE MEANING
Goodness in you reaches beyond your own years: it becomes provision for descendants you may never meet. The verse pictures a sinner’s wealth as stored for the just, so what someone holds now may pass into another’s hands.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what is in your hands must remain yours is undone here: inheritance and wealth both move beyond their current holder.
THE ROOT
יַנְחִיל
yanḥil
GROWS FROM
נחל
naḥal
To inherit or possess; in this verb form, to cause someone to inherit or to allot a possession.
The verse’s “leaveth” is an act of making heirs: the good man causes descendants to receive a share. The root makes the inheritance a passage of possession across generations, not simply something left behind.
ALSO GROWS
naḥalah: An inheritance or allotted possession.
נַחֲלָה
This noun names what is passed along; the verse’s verb turns that inheritance into an act that reaches the children’s children.
hinḥil: To cause someone to inherit or to allot.
הִנְחִיל
This causative form highlights the giver’s role in making another person an heir.
צָפוּן
tsafun
GROWS FROM
צפן
tsaphan
To hide, store away, or treasure.
What the KJV renders “laid up” is described as hidden away. The wealth has not vanished; it is held in reserve, beyond the sinner’s present grasp and destined for the just.
ALSO GROWS
tsaphan: To hide, store, or treasure away.
צָפַן
The verb gives “laid up” the sense of keeping something concealed in reserve.
tsafun: Hidden or stored away.
צָפוּן
This form depicts the wealth as already held in reserve for another.
טוֹב
ṭov
GROWS FROM
טוב
ṭov
Good, beneficial, or pleasing.
The related verb יָטַב describes being good or doing well: goodness here is more than a label attached to a person. Its effect appears in provision that reaches descendants beyond the giver’s own years.
ALSO GROWS
ṭovah: Goodness, benefit, or what is good.
טוֹבָה
This noun shows the quality named by “good” as a benefit that can be received.
yaṭav: To be good, do well, or be pleasing.
יָטַב
This verb presents goodness as something that takes effect; here, its effect is provision for the next generations.
THE PATTERN
What people gather does not necessarily remain with them; it can pass into another’s hands.
For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?THE THREAD
House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.“Leaveth” in Proverbs 13:22 comes from נחל, the same root behind “inheritance” here. One verse shows a person causing descendants to inherit; the other names household wealth itself as an inheritance passed from fathers.
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