Proverbs 11:24
Some distribute their own goods, and grow richer: others take away what is not their own, and are always in want.
Open Proverbs 11:24 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Alii dividunt propria, et ditiores fiunt ; alii rapiunt non sua, et semper in egestate sunt.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- εἰσὶν οἳ τὰ ἴδια σπείροντες πλείονα ποιοῦσιν· εἰσὶν καὶ οἳ συνάγοντες ἐλαττονοῦνται.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- יֵ֣שׁ מְ֭פַזֵּר וְנוֹסָ֥ף ע֑וֹד וְחוֹשֵׂ֥ךְ מִ֝יֹּ֗שֶׁר אַךְ לְמַחְסֽוֹר
Haydock's commentary
Others. Moderation is always requisite. Hebrew, "there is one withholding from rectitude, yet for a defect," (Mont.[Montanus?]) being too saving, he is a loser. (Haydock)
Avarice does not always increase riches. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Clement of Alexandria The Instructor, Chapter VI. The Christian Alone Rich
But if we must distinguish, let it be granted that he is rich who has many possessions, loaded with gold like a dirty purse; but the righteous alone is graceful, because grace is order, observing a due and decorous measure in managing and distributing. “For there are those who sow and reap more,” of whom it is written, “He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever.” So that it is not he who has and keeps, but he who gives away, that is rich; and it is giving away, not possession, which renders a man happy; and the fruit of the Spirit is generosity. It is in the soul, then, that riches are. Let it, then, be granted that good things are the property only of good men; and Christians are good. Now, a fool or a libertine can neither have any perception of what is good, nor obtain possession of it. …
Clement of Alexandria The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Chapter XIX. That the Philosophers Have Attained to Some Portion of Truth
The divine apostle writes accordingly respecting us: “For now we see as through a glass;” knowing ourselves in it by reflection, and simultaneously contemplating, as we can, the efficient cause, from that, which, in us, is divine. For it is said, “Having seen thy brother, thou hast seen thy God:” methinks that now the Saviour God is declared to us. But after the laying aside of the flesh, “face to face,”, then definitely and comprehensively, when the heart becomes pure. And by reflection and direct vision, those among the Greeks who have philosophized accurately, see God. For such, through our weakness, are our true views, as images are seen in the water, and as we see things through pellucid and transparent bodies. …