Proverbs 6:11
New International Version
and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

New Living Translation
then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

English Standard Version
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Berean Standard Bible
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

King James Bible
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

New King James Version
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

New American Standard Bible
Then your poverty will come in like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.

NASB 1995
Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.

NASB 1977
And your poverty will come in like a vagabond, And your need like an armed man.

Legacy Standard Bible
Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your want like an armed man.

Amplified Bible
So your poverty will come like an approaching prowler who walks [slowly, but surely] And your need [will come] like an armed man [making you helpless].

Christian Standard Bible
and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

American Standard Version
So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Poverty will come upon you and want will overtake you like an athletic man.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Then poverty comes upon thee as an evil traveller, and want as a swift courier: but if thou be diligent, thine harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier.

Contemporary English Version
Suddenly, everything is gone, as though it had been taken by an armed robber.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And want shall come upon thee, as a traveller, and poverty as a man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee.

English Revised Version
So shall thy poverty come as a robber, and thy want as an armed man.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Then your poverty will come [to you]like a drifter, and your need will come [to you]like a bandit.

Good News Translation
But while he sleeps, poverty will attack him like an armed robber.

International Standard Version
and your poverty will come on you like a bandit and your desperation like an armed man.

JPS Tanakh 1917
So shall thy poverty come as a runner, And thy want as an armed man.

Literal Standard Version
And your poverty has come as a traveler, | And your want as an armed man.

Majority Standard Bible
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

New American Bible
Then poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like a brigand.

NET Bible
and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need like an armed man.

New Revised Standard Version
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior.

New Heart English Bible
so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

Webster's Bible Translation
So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and thy want as an armed man.

World English Bible
so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

Young's Literal Translation
And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Warnings Against Foolishness
10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit. 12A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth,…

Cross References
Proverbs 23:21
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

Proverbs 24:34
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.


Treasury of Scripture

So shall your poverty come as one that travels, and your want as an armed man.

Proverbs 10:4
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

Proverbs 13:4
The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

Proverbs 20:4
The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

Jump to Previous
Armed Bandit Loss Need Outlaw Penury Plunderer Poverty Robber Roving Runner Scarcity Traveleth Traveller Travelleth Vagabond Want
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Armed Bandit Loss Need Outlaw Penury Plunderer Poverty Robber Roving Runner Scarcity Traveleth Traveller Travelleth Vagabond Want
Proverbs 6
1. against indebtedness
6. idleness
12. and mischievousness
16. seven things detestable to God
20. the blessings of obedience
25. the mischief of unfaithfulness














(11) As one that travelleth.--The form of the Hebrew is intensive, "one who moves swiftly," as in Psalm 104:3, it is applied to God's "moving upon the wings of the wind." While the sluggard sleeps, poverty is coming on apace.

AS an armed man.--Against whom the sleeper will be defenceless. Proverbs 6:10-11 are repeated in Proverbs 24:33-34.

Verse 11. - So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. The inevitable consequences of sloth - poverty and want, two terms conveying the idea of utter destitution - are described under a twofold aspect: first, as certain; second, as irresistible. Poverty will advance upon the sluggard with the unerring precision and swiftness with which a traveller tends towards the end of his journey, or, as Michaelis puts it, "quasi viator qui impigre pergit ac proprius venit donec propositum itineris scopum contingat" (Michaelis, 'Notre Uberiores'). Muffet, in loc., keeping to the figure, however, explains differently, "Poverty shall overtake thee, as a swift traveller does one who walks slowly." The Authorized Version, "as one that travelleth," correctly represents the original kim'hallek. There is no ground whatever, from the use of the verb, for rendering the piel participle m'hallek as "a robber." The verb halak invariably means "to go, or walk," and the piel or intensive form of the verb means "to walk vigorously, or quickly." The participle can only mean this in the two other passages where it occurs - Psalm 104:3 and Ecclesiastes 4:14. The substantive helek in 2 Samuel 12:4 also signifies "a traveller." So the Vulgate here, quasi viator. The other view, it is stated, is required by the parallel expression in the second hemistich, "as an armed man," and receives some support from the LXX. reading, ὥσπερ κακὸς ὁδοιπόρος, "as an evil traveller," which may mean either a traveller bringing evil news, or one who wanders about with an evil intention and purpose, in the sense of the Latin grassator, "a highwayman." In this case the meaning would be that poverty shall come upon the sluggard as he is indulging in his sloth, and leave him destitute as if stripped by a robber. But the destitution of the sluggard wilt not only be certain and swift, it will be also irresistible. His want shall come upon him as an armed man (k'ish magen); literally, as a man of a shield; Vulgate, quasi vir armatus; i.e. like one fully equipped, and who attacks his foe with such onset and force that against him resistance is useless. As the unarmed, unprepared man succumbs to such an opponent, so shall the sluggard fall before want. The expressions," thy poverty" and "thy want," represent the destitution of the sluggard as flowing directly from his own habit of self-indulgence. It is his in a special manner) and he, not others, is alone responsible for it. Compare, beside the parallel passage Proverbs 24:33, the similar teaching in ch. 10:4; 13:4; 20:4. The Vulgate, LXX., and Arabic Versions at the close of this verse add, "But if thou art diligent, the harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee;" the LXX. making a further addition, "as a bad runner (ὥσπερ κακὸς δρομεὺς)." It is observable, in comparing this section with the preceding, that the teacher pursues the subject of the sluggard to its close, while he leaves the end of the surety undetermined. The explanation may be in the difference in character of the two. The surety may escape the consequences of his act, but there is no such relief for the sluggard. His slothfulness becomes a habit, which increases the more it is indulged in, and leads to consequences which are as irremediable as they are inevitable.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
and poverty
רֵאשֶׁ֑ךָ (rê·še·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 7389: Poverty

will come upon you
וּבָֽא־ (ū·ḇā-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

like a robber,
כִמְהַלֵּ֥ךְ (ḵim·hal·lêḵ)
Preposition-k | Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

and need
וּ֝מַחְסֹֽרְךָ֗ (ū·maḥ·sō·rə·ḵā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 4270: A need, thing needed, poverty

like a bandit.
כְּאִ֣ישׁ (kə·’îš)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 6:11 So your poverty will come as (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 6:10
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