Proverbs 28:3
New International Version
A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.

New Living Translation
A poor person who oppresses the poor is like a pounding rain that destroys the crops.

English Standard Version
A poor man who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food.

Berean Standard Bible
A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.

King James Bible
A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.

New King James Version
A poor man who oppresses the poor Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.

New American Standard Bible
A poor man who oppresses the helpless Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.

NASB 1995
A poor man who oppresses the lowly Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.

NASB 1977
A poor man who oppresses the lowly Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.

Legacy Standard Bible
A poor man who oppresses the lowly Is a driving rain which leaves no food.

Amplified Bible
A poor man who oppresses and exploits the lowly Is like a sweeping rain which leaves no food.

Christian Standard Bible
A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.

American Standard Version
A needy man that oppresseth the poor Is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
A poor man that harms the poor is like a beating rain with no benefit in it.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
A bold man oppresses the poor by ungodly deeds. As an impetuous and profitable rain,

Contemporary English Version
When someone poor takes over and mistreats the poor, it's like a heavy rain destroying the crops.

Douay-Rheims Bible
A poor man that oppresseth the poor, is like a violent shower, which bringeth a famine.

English Revised Version
A needy man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
A poor person who oppresses poorer people is like a driving rain that leaves no food.

Good News Translation
Someone in authority who oppresses poor people is like a driving rain that destroys the crops.

International Standard Version
A poor man who oppresses the weak is like a rainstorm that destroys all the crops.

JPS Tanakh 1917
A poor man that oppresseth the weak Is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.

Literal Standard Version
A man—poor and oppressing the weak, | [Is] a sweeping rain, and there is no bread.

Majority Standard Bible
A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.

New American Bible
One who is poor and extorts from the lowly is a devastating rain that leaves no food.

NET Bible
A poor person who oppresses the weak is like a driving rain without food.

New Revised Standard Version
A ruler who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food.

New Heart English Bible
A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.

Webster's Bible Translation
A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.

World English Bible
A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.

Young's Literal Translation
A man -- poor and oppressing the weak, Is a sweeping rain, and there is no bread.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Boldness of the Righteous
2A land in rebellion has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order. 3A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food. 4Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.…

Cross References
Matthew 18:28
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe me!'

Numbers 10:9
When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who attacks you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God and saved from your enemies.


Treasury of Scripture

A poor man that oppresses the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaves no food.

poor man

Matthew 18:28-30
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest…

Jump to Previous
Beating Bread Causing Crops Cruel Destruction Driving Food Helpless Leaves Needy Oppresses Oppresseth Oppressing Poor Rain Ruler Sweeping Violent Weak Wealth
Jump to Next
Beating Bread Causing Crops Cruel Destruction Driving Food Helpless Leaves Needy Oppresses Oppresseth Oppressing Poor Rain Ruler Sweeping Violent Weak Wealth
Proverbs 28
1. general observations of impiety and integrity














(3) A poor man that oppresseth the poor.--If the recollection of his own former troubles has not softened his heart towards his poor neighbours, he will be rendered more callous to their sufferings.

Is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.--That sweeps away grain and soil, instead of bringing plenty with it.

Verse 3. - A poor man that oppresseth the poor. The words rendered "poor" are different. The former is rash, "needy," the latter dal, "feeble" (see on Proverbs 10:15). Delitzsch notes that, in accordance with the accents in the Masoretic text, we should translate, "A poor man and an oppressor of the lowly - a sweeping rain without bringing bread," which would mean that a tyrant who oppresses the lowly bears the same relation to the poor that a devastating rain does to those whom it deprives of their food. But it is pretty certain that "the poor" and "the oppressor" designate the same person (though the vocalization is against it); hence the gnome refers to a usurper who, rising to power from poor estate, makes the very worst and most tyrannical ruler. Such a one has learned nothing from his former condition but callous indifference, and now seeks to exercise on others that power which once galled him. Thus among schoolboys it is found that the greatest bully is one who has himself been bullied; and needy revolutionists make the most rapacious and iniquitous demagogues. Of such tyrants the prophets complain (see Isaiah 5:8, etc.; Micah 2:2). Wordsworth refers, as an illustration, to Catiline and his fellow conspirators, who were moved by selfish interests to overthrow the commonwealth. Many modern commentators (e.g., Hitzig, Delitzsch, Nowack), in view of the present text, regarding the combination נבר רשׁ, and noting that elsewhere the oppressor and the poor are always introduced in opposition (comp. Proverbs 29:13), read רלֺאשׁ, or consider רשׁ as equivalent to it - rosh, "the head," in the signification of "master," "ruler." The gnome thus becomes concinnous, the ruler who ought to benefit his dependents, but injures them, corresponding to the rain which, instead of fertilizing, devastates the crops. The LXX. had a different reading, as it readers, "A bold man in his impieties (ἀνδρεῖος ἐν ἀσεβείαις) calumniates the poor." Is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food; literally, and not bread. A violent storm coming at seed time and washing away soil and seed, or happening at harvest time and destroying the ripe corn. Vulgate, Similis est imbri vehementi, in quo paratur fames. Ewald supposes that such proverbs as these and the following belong to the time of Jeroboam II, when the prosperity of the people induced luxury and arrogance, and was accompanied with much moral evil, oppression, and perversion of justice ('Hist. of Israel,' 3:126, Eng. transl.). The Bengalee compares the relation of the rich oppressor to the poor, not with the rainstorm, but with that of the carving knife to the pumpkin.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
A destitute
רָ֭שׁ (rāš)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 7326: To be in want or poor

leader
גֶּ֣בֶר (ge·ḇer)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1397: A valiant man, warrior, a person simply

who oppresses
וְעֹשֵׁ֣ק (wə·‘ō·šêq)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 6231: To press upon, oppress, defraud, violate, overflow

the poor
דַּלִּ֑ים (dal·lîm)
Adjective - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1800: Dangling, weak, thin

is like a driving
סֹ֝חֵ֗ף (sō·ḥêp̄)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 5502: To scrape off

rain
מָטָ֥ר (mā·ṭār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4306: Rain

that leaves no
וְאֵ֣ין (wə·’ên)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle

food.
לָֽחֶם׃ (lā·ḥem)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3899: Food, bread, grain


Links
Proverbs 28:3 NIV
Proverbs 28:3 NLT
Proverbs 28:3 ESV
Proverbs 28:3 NASB
Proverbs 28:3 KJV

Proverbs 28:3 BibleApps.com
Proverbs 28:3 Biblia Paralela
Proverbs 28:3 Chinese Bible
Proverbs 28:3 French Bible
Proverbs 28:3 Catholic Bible

OT Poetry: Proverbs 28:3 A needy man who oppresses the poor (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 28:2
Top of Page
Top of Page