What Does Proverbs 21:13 Mean in the King James?

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

Proverbs 21:13 · KJV

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 final “heard” means “answered”: the response refused to the poor becomes the speaker’s own unanswered cry.

THE MEANING

Your refusal to answer another’s cry does not remain a private act; the verse names it as the shape your own cry will meet. You stand inside the same world of response you help create.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that you can refuse the poor’s plea while still expecting your own to be answered.

THE ROOT

יֵעָנֶה

yēʿāneh

GROWS FROM

ענה

ʿ-n-h

Answer, respond.

The Hebrew word translated “heard” means “answered,” so the consequence is relational: the speaker calls and receives no response. Psalm 118:5 uses this same root for a cry that is answered and set in a spacious place.

ALSO GROWS

ʿānâ: To answer or respond.

עָנָה

This verb names the response withheld from the poor and later withheld from the speaker.

maʿăneh: An answer or response.

מַעֲנֶה

The related noun makes clear that the verse concerns a reply, not simply whether someone hears a sound.

אֹטֵם

ʾōṭēm

GROWS FROM

אטם

ʾ-ṭ-m

Stop up, close, seal.

“stoppeth” in this verse is ʾōṭēm. The verse pictures more than failing to notice: the ear is deliberately closed against the outcry. The later unanswered call mirrors that chosen closure.

ALSO GROWS

ʾōṭēm: One who closes or stops up.

אֹטֵם

This is the form describing the person who closes their ear to the poor.

ʾāṭûm: Closed or sealed.

אָטוּם

This related form carries the image of an ear made inaccessible to another’s plea.

זְעָקָה

zeʿāqāh

GROWS FROM

זעק

z-ʿ-q

Cry out, call for help.

The poor person’s cry is a plea for help, not a casual sound. English uses “cry” again for the speaker’s later call, while Hebrew uses a different verb there, ⁨קָרָא⁩ (qārāʾ, call out), sharpening the reversal between the two scenes.

ALSO GROWS

zāʿaq: To cry out or call for help.

זָעַק

This verb gives the poor person’s cry its urgent, pleading force.

zeʿāqāh: An outcry or cry for help.

זְעָקָה

This noun names the plea the person chooses to shut out.

THE PATTERN

A person’s treatment of another’s plea becomes the measure of the response they receive.

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

Proverbs 28:27 · KJVAs in Proverbs 21:13, turning away from the poor shapes what returns to the one who turns away.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Matthew 7:2 · KJVThe same measure governs both what a person gives and what comes back to them.

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

James 2:13 · KJVThe verse makes the return explicit: withholding mercy meets judgment without mercy.

THE THREAD

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

Psalm 118:5 · KJV

The same Hebrew root, ⁨ענה⁩ (ʿānâ, answer or respond), appears in “answered me.” Here the cry receives an answer and moves from distress into a large place; Proverbs 21:13 shows the cost of closing oneself to another’s cry.

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