What Does Proverbs 19:17 Mean in the King James?
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
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
A gift to the poor becomes a loan because the LORD names himself its receiver and payer.
THE MEANING
When you show favor to someone who has little, the verse says the LORD receives that gift as a loan. The return rests with the LORD, so the gift is not measured by whether its recipient can repay it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that giving to someone unable to repay is simply a one-way loss is undone: the verse names the LORD as borrower and payer.
THE ROOT
מַלְוֶה
malveh
GROWS FROM
לוה
To join or accompany; in this form, to lend.
“lendeth” in this verse is malveh. The Hebrew word for lending shares a root with joining and being joined. That gives the loan language a relational depth: the gift is not only transferred, but enters a bond the verse places before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
lavah: To join or accompany.
לָוָה
In Genesis 29:34, Leah uses this verb when she says her husband will be joined to her; the same word family gives lending an echo of attachment.
Levi: Joined; the name is associated with the root לוה.
לֵוִי
Genesis 29:34 connects Leah’s hope of being joined to her husband with the name Levi, making the relational sense of the lending root audible.
חוֹנֵן
ḥōnēn
GROWS FROM
חנן
To show favor or act graciously.
“pity” in this verse is ḥōnēn. The verb describes favor being shown, not only a feeling about someone in need. The verse’s attention rests on favor made tangible in a gift.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēn: Favor.
חֵן
The noun names the favor carried into action when someone gives to the poor.
ḥannun: Gracious; one who shows favor.
חַנּוּן
This related word describes a nature marked by favor, echoing the giver’s act of showing favor here.
יְשַׁלֶּם
yeshallem
GROWS FROM
שלם
To be whole or complete; to make complete, repay, or recompense.
“pay him again” in this verse is yeshallem. The repayment verb belongs to the same root family as shalom, “wholeness,” and shalem, “complete.” The return is concrete repayment, expressed in a word family that also carries the sense of bringing something to completion.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness.
שָׁלוֹם
The shared root places the verse’s language of repayment in the same word family as wholeness.
shalem: Whole or complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch preserves the root’s sense of completion and illuminates repayment as settling what is owed.
THE PATTERN
A gift offered to someone with little is counted as an act toward God, who answers where the recipient cannot repay.
He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.THE THREAD
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.Proverbs calls the gift a loan to the LORD; this verse names the human encounter as an encounter with the King. It opens the lending image as a relationship in which the poor person’s need is received by God himself.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us