Proverbs 10:4 Explained

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

A general rule stated as a general rule, in a book that elsewhere lists the exceptions.

Read it in context: The Book of Proverbs. Also gathered under verses about work.

Proverbs 10:4 in context

What does Proverbs 10:4 mean?

'Slack hand' is a loose or dropped hand — not laziness as a character verdict but a grip that has let go. The proverb states a tendency, which is the genre: Proverbs describes how life generally runs, not how it always must. Reading it as a promise turns it into a judgement on the poor, and reading it as false because exceptions exist misses that tendencies are still worth knowing.

What is the context of Proverbs 10:4?

One of the two-line contrasts in the central collection of Proverbs. The same book says the poor are often robbed of justice, that a poor man's field can yield much and be swept away by injustice, and that wealth got hastily dwindles.

How do I pray Proverbs 10:4?

Apply it to your own hand, which is the only place a proverb about diligence is safe. Name the thing you have let go of. Then hold the book's other sayings alongside it, since using this verse to explain somebody else's poverty is the one use Proverbs itself does not support.

Carry this verse with you

Save Proverbs 10:4 and a daily verse to your lock screen with Quiethaven. Read the whole Bible in the Bible app, pair it with a prayer timer, and turn Scripture into a daily habit.

Keep Proverbs 10:4 close — free on iPhone.

Download on the App Store

More verses explained

From the blog