What Does Proverbs 13:7 Mean?
There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; there is one who empties himself, yet has great wealth.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.THE KEY
The verse separates the self you make from the wealth you actually possess.
THE MEANING
You can make yourself rich and still have nothing; you can make yourself poor and still have great wealth. What you make of your standing and what you possess can move in opposite directions.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that looking wealthy proves abundance, or looking poor proves lack.
THE ROOT
מִתְעַשֵּׁר
mitʿashēr
GROWS FROM
עשר
Be rich; become wealthy.
“makes himself rich” in this verse is mitʿashēr. The verb for making oneself rich and the word for wealth grow from the same root. The verse sets that self-directed becoming beside “hath nothing,” separating the act of becoming rich from actual possession.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāshīr: Rich; wealthy.
עָשִׁיר
This adjective names the state the verb describes, but the verse shows that rich-making alone does not mean a person possesses abundance.
ʿōsher: Wealth; riches.
עֹשֶׁר
This noun names wealth itself, highlighting the gap between becoming rich and having riches.
מִתְרוֹשֵׁשׁ
mitrōshēsh
GROWS FROM
רושׁ
Be poor; become impoverished.
“maketh himself poor” in this verse is mitrōshēsh. Like “maketh himself rich,” this is a reflexive verb: both halves describe a self-directed change in standing. Yet the poor-making is followed by “great riches,” so the reversal is built into the verse’s grammar.
ALSO GROWS
rāsh: Poor; a poor person.
רָשׁ
This branch names the condition of poverty that the verb describes, while the verse shows that condition can coexist with great riches.
rēsh: Poverty; want.
רֵישׁ
This noun makes the lack associated with being poor explicit, sharpening the contrast with the abundance held in the same clause.
THE PATTERN
A person’s apparent condition and what they actually possess can stand in opposite relation.
One scatters and yet increases, and another keeps back beyond the straight, but only toward lack.So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.As ones in pain, yet always rejoicing; as emptied ones, yet making many rich; as ones holding nothing, yet holding all things fast.THE THREAD
And Abram was very heavy with cattle, with silver, and with gold.Genesis uses the same עשר root for Abram’s wealth and names its concrete contents. Proverbs sets the rich-making verb beside “hath nothing,” letting the shared root distinguish becoming rich from possessing riches.
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