Working the land yields plenty of food, while chasing empty schemes yields plenty of poverty.
Two paths are contrasted in Proverbs 28:19: He who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty (v. 19). Solomon here returns to the theme of honest work.
He who tills his land will have plenty of food. The man who works the ground he has been given, in patient seasonal labor, will have abundant food. The connection between honest work and provision is real and reliable.
He who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty. The phrase is sharp. Poverty in plenty names the abundance of nothing. The man chasing schemes, easy gains, and shortcuts ends up with abundant lack. Verse 22 will sharpen the same theme. The verse is a quiet rebuke to every age's get-rich-quick fantasy.
Proverbs 28:19
19 He who tills his land will have plenty of food,
But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.
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Proverbs 28:19 meaning
Two paths are contrasted in Proverbs 28:19: He who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty (v. 19). Solomon here returns to the theme of honest work.
He who tills his land will have plenty of food. The man who works the ground he has been given, in patient seasonal labor, will have abundant food. The connection between honest work and provision is real and reliable.
He who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty. The phrase is sharp. Poverty in plenty names the abundance of nothing. The man chasing schemes, easy gains, and shortcuts ends up with abundant lack. Verse 22 will sharpen the same theme. The verse is a quiet rebuke to every age's get-rich-quick fantasy.