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Proverbs 14:31

"He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker"

"He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor." The witnesses agree. The saying grounds care for the poor in creation: the poor person is God's creature, so contempt for the poor is contempt for God. The idea recurs in 17:5 and 22:2.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

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✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

      The proverb as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

    2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

      Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Qui calumniatur egentem exprobrat factori ejus; honorat autem eum qui miseretur pauperis.

      Latin position: Proverbs 14:31. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398); the Clementine Vulgate sometimes also carries lines from the Greek.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      עֹ֣שֵֽׁק דָּ֭ל חֵרֵ֣ף עֹשֵׂ֑הוּ וּ֝מְכַבְּד֗וֹ חֹנֵ֥ן אֶבְיֽוֹן׃

      One who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker; one who honours him is gracious to the needy

      Hebrew position: Proverbs 14:31.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Proverbs

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Tromper l’indigent, c’est irriter son Créateur; celui qui honore Dieu a compassion du pauvre.

      Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 14:31. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). In these chapters the Greek verse positions in the digital file shift; the matching line was found by content. No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.

    What changed, and why

    Oshek, "oppress," is used of exploitation, especially withholding wages and extortion (Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14). Dal and evyon are the weak and the needy. "His Maker" (osehu) can refer to the poor man's Maker or the oppressor's; either way, God made both (22:2).

    Comparable thought: Job 31:13–15 ("Did not he that made me in the womb make him?"); Amenemope (the poor are under the protection of the god; reported from Lichtheim, C check); Jesus' teaching that service to "the least of these" is service to him (Matthew 25:40). The library's Greek reads "he who deceives the needy provokes his Creator; he who honours God has pity on the poor."

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe library's witnesses agree on the sense of 14:31.
    • Independently documentedProverbs grounds care for the poor in God as their Maker (14:31; 17:5; 22:2).

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Proverbs 14: The Wise Woman Buildeth Her House →Chapter 14 ranges from the household ("Every wise woman buildeth her house," v. 1) and the farm ("Where no oxen are, the crib is clean," v. 4) to the inner life ("The heart knoweth his own bitterness," v. 10; "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful," v. 13), to the danger of self-deception ("There is a way which seemeth right unto a man," v. 12, repeated in 16:25), to the courts (vv. 5, 25), the poor (vv. 20–21, 31) and the nation and king (vv. 28, 34–35). "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker" (v. 31).