Proverbs 20:21-23
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
21 Possessions greedily guarded at the outset
will not be blessed in the end.[a]
22 Do not say, “I will repay evil!”
Wait for the Lord, who will help you.[b](A)
23 Varying weights are an abomination to the Lord,
and false scales are not good.(B)
Footnotes
- 20:21 By definition, an inheritance is not gained by one’s own efforts but is received as a gift. If, when one first receives the inheritance, one drives everyone away, one treats it as if one acquired it by one’s own efforts. In an agricultural society, an inheritance would often be a field that would require God’s blessing to be fertile.
- 20:22 Appointing oneself an agent of divine retribution is dangerous. Better to wait for God to effect justice. Cf. 24:17–18.
Proverbs 20:21-23
New International Version
21 An inheritance claimed too soon
will not be blessed at the end.
23 The Lord detests differing weights,
and dishonest scales do not please him.(C)
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