Proverbs 14:20

Proverbs 14:20, in plain English

Poor people are often despised even by those closest to them, but wealthy people attract love and attention from many people.

Why it's here

This is Solomon's unflinching observation about how money influences human relationships. It's not how things should be — it's how they actually are. Even neighbors, who should show basic kindness, distance themselves from the poor, while the wealthy are surrounded by admirers.

Who's speaking

Solomon, naming a painful reality about human nature and social injustice

Where it sits in the story

This is Proverbs being honest about the world as it is, not as we wish it were. It sets up the biblical call to champion the poor, to be the kind of person who doesn't turn away from those without wealth. Jesus himself would make this a centerpiece of his ministry.

The scholarly reading

The poor person is despised even by his own neighbor out of economic self-interest, while many cultivate relationships with the wealthy for advantage.

Language and setting

This verse offers sober sociological observation about how economic disparity structures human relationships: the דל (dal, 'poor person') is שָׂנוּא (sanu'a, 'hated' or 'despised'), even by שכנו (shekhno, 'his neighbor'—presumably someone in a similar or only marginally better position). Multiple individuals, conversely, אהבו (ahavu, 'love' or 'cultivate') the עשיר (ashir, 'rich person'), not from genuine affection but as a calculated strategy. The verse exposes the mercenary basis of much social bonding and the vulnerability of those without resources.

Voice

The wisdom teacher, offering unflinching observation about human nature in its self-interested dimension.

Significance

This connects to Jesus's teaching about the impossibility of serving both God and wealth (Matthew 6:24), his declaration that those who lose everything for the kingdom gain everything, and his severe warnings to the rich about their spiritual danger. It also grounds the New Testament's radical ethic of concern for the poor as the inverse of the world's logic—to love those who cannot reciprocate advantage.

18The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

19The evil bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

20The poor man is hated even by his neighbor, but many are those who love the rich.

21He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who shows kindness to the poor.

22Do not those who contrive evil go astray? But those who plan goodness find loving devotion and faithfulness.

Read all of Proverbs 14 — In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.