What Does Proverbs 14:20 Mean in the King James?
The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends.
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
Hebrew uses the same word for “neighbor” and “friends”: poverty meets hatred where wealth gathers companions.
THE MEANING
This verse names a reality that still meets you: poverty can turn even a nearby person against you, while wealth draws a crowd. Beneath “neighbor” and “friends” is the same word for companion, held in two sharply different responses.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that many companions prove a person is loved: the verse shows that wealth can gather a crowd while poverty meets rejection even close to home.
THE ROOT
רֵעֵהוּ
rēʿēhû
GROWS FROM
רעה
r-ʿ-h
To tend or pasture; by extension, to associate with or be a companion.
“neighbor / friends” in this verse is rēʿēhû. The words rendered “neighbor” and “friends” are forms of the same Hebrew word, רֵעַ (rēaʿ), meaning companion or neighbor. The verse holds that shared relationship in a stark contrast: poverty meets hatred from a companion, while wealth gathers many companions.
ALSO GROWS
rēaʿ: Companion, friend, or neighbor.
רֵעַ
This is the singular word behind both the poor person’s “neighbor” and the rich person’s “friends.”
rōʿeh: Shepherd; one who tends a flock.
רֹעֶה
This branch carries the root’s sense of tending and association, a striking echo beneath a word for companion.
THE PATTERN
People often gather around wealth and withdraw from poverty, so social regard follows status rather than the person.
Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour.Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:THE THREAD
Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour.The same Hebrew word for companion appears as “friends” and “neighbour” in both verses. Proverbs 19:4 makes explicit the reversal compressed here: wealth gathers companions, while poverty leaves a person separated from them.
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