What Does Proverbs 29:7 Mean in the King James?

The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

Proverbs 29:7 · 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

Here, righteousness is the knowing that lets a poor person’s case become real to you.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks to you through a contrast: the aligned person knows the poor person’s case, while the wicked person does not grasp that knowledge. The poor person is not an abstraction here; their claim and circumstances are what the verse calls to mind.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that you can be righteous while remaining untouched by the poor person’s actual case.

THE ROOT

יֹדֵעַ

yōdēaʿ

GROWS FROM

ידע

To know, recognize, or be acquainted with.

“considereth / to know” in this verse is yōdēaʿ. The Hebrew uses this root on both sides: the righteous person “knows” the poor person’s case, while the wicked person does not grasp “knowledge.” The English words “considereth” and “know” conceal that repeated seed, making attention to the case itself the dividing line.

ALSO GROWS

yōdēaʿ: Knowing; one who knows.

יֹדֵעַ

This is the word rendered “considereth”: the verse describes the righteous person’s response as knowing the case.

daʿat: Knowledge; understanding.

דַּעַת

This is the word the wicked person does not grasp, repeating the same root from the other half of the verse.

דִּין

din

GROWS FROM

דין

To judge or decide a case; judgment.

“Cause” names the poor person’s case or claim, not merely a general condition of need. The verse places that claim inside the righteous person’s knowing.

ALSO GROWS

din: Judgment or a legal case.

דִּין

This is the word translated “cause,” giving the poor person a claim that must be reckoned with.

dan: He judges.

דָּן

This verb from the same root shows the movement from a case to the act of judging it.

צַדִּיק

tsaddiq

GROWS FROM

צדק

Rightness or justice; alignment.

The verse ties alignment to what a person knows about someone vulnerable. Here, being righteous is expressed through attention to the poor person’s case, not through a title alone.

ALSO GROWS

tsedeq: Justice, rightness, or alignment.

צֶדֶק

This names the quality embodied by the righteous person in the verse.

tsaddiq: A righteous or aligned person.

צַדִּיק

This is the person whose alignment is made visible by knowing the poor person’s case.

THE PATTERN

Right alignment becomes visible when a vulnerable person’s case is seen, heard, and answered.

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Psalm 82:3 · KJVThe verse makes justice concrete through defending and doing justice for people in need.

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:17 · KJVThe call to seek judgment and plead for the vulnerable echoes the attention to the poor person’s case.

And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

James 2:16 · KJVThis verse exposes the gap between noticing need and answering what the person actually lacks.

THE THREAD

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Psalm 103:14 · KJV

“Knoweth” comes from the same ⁨ידע⁩ (yada) root as “considereth” and “to know” in Proverbs. Here, knowing holds the human frame and its limits in view, opening the poor person’s case as something to be truly recognized.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us