Proverbs 14:20

Pro 14:20 The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich [hath] many friends.

Ver. 20. The poor is hated,] i.e., Less loved, little respected, as Gen 29:31 Mal 1:5 Luk 14:26. The heathen could say, Aφιλον το δυστοχες - adversity finds few friends. Et cum fortuna statque caditque fides. Few will appear for suffering saints. This Job and David much complain of; but when a deer is shot, the rest of the herd push him out of their company, so here, Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris. The same Hebrew word that signifies winter, an emblem of poverty, signifies reproach. "This thy son"; {Luk 15:30} not this "my brother," because in poverty. The Samaritans would not once own the Jews when they were in a poor estate, but disavow them, as they did to Antiochus Epiphanes; {a} but when in prosperity, then they would curry favour with them, and call them their sweet cousins. When it was sometimes disputed among the Romans in the council, using to deify great men, whether Christ, having done many wonderful works, should be received into the number of the gods, it was resolved that he should not, Propter hoc, quod paupertatem predicarit et elegerit, quam mundus contemnit, because he preached poverty and chose poor men whom the world cares not for.

But the rich man hath many friends.] Such as they are, ollares amici - trencher flies, such as follow the scent, and, like Bohemian curs, will fawn upon a good suit. {b} As for faithful friends, divitibus ideo amicus deest, quia nihil deest, saith one; few such to be found such as, with Ittai the Gittite and Hushai the Archite, will stick close to a David when stripped of all. Josephus relates of the Jews that they were very careful how they received proselytes in Solomon’s time, because then the state of the Jews flourished.

{a} Josephus.

{b} Purchas.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro_14:20

But the rich hath many friends.

Friends in prosperity

Ah! do not be puffed up by any of the successes of this life, do not be spoiled by the number of liveried coachmen that may stop at your door, or the sweep of the long trail across the imported tapestry. Many of those who come to your house are fawning parasites. They are not so much in love with you as they are in love with your house and your successes. You move down to 320, Low Water Mark Street, and see how many of their carriages will halt at your door. Now you can hardly count those brilliant carriages on your ten fingers, but you move next year down to 320 in Low Water Mark Street, and you can count them all on your nose! Timon of Athens was a wealthy lord, and all the mighty men and women of the land came and sat at his banquet, proud to sit there, and they drank deep to his health. They sent him costly presents. He sent costlier presents back again, and there was no man in all the land so admired as Timon of Athens, the wealthy lord. But after a while, through lavish hospitality or through betrayal, he lost everything. Then he sent for help to those lords whom he had banqueted and to whom he had given large sums of money--Lucullus, Lucius, Sempronius, and Ventidias. Did those lords send any help to him? Oh, no. Lucullus said when he was applied to, Well, I thought that Timon would come down; he was too lavish; let him suffer for his recklessness. Lucius said, I would be very glad to help Timon, but I have made large purchases and my means are all absorbed. And one lord sent one excuse, and another lord sent another excuse. But to the astonishment of everybody, after awhile Timon proclaimed another feast. These lords said to themselves, Why, either Timon has had a good turn of fortune or he has been deceiving us--testing our love. And so they all flocked to the banquet, apologetic for seeming lukewarmness. The guests were all seated at the table, and Timon ordered the covers to be lifted. The covers lifted, there was nothing under them but smoking hot water. Then Timon said to the guests, Dogs, lap! Lap, dogs! And under the terrible irony they fled the room, while Timon pursued them with his anathema, calling them fools of fortune, destroyers of happiness under a mask, hurling at the same time the pictures and the chalices after them. Oh, I would not want to make you over-suspicions in the days of your success; but I want you to understand right well there is a vast difference between the popularity of Timon the prosperous and Timon the unfortunate. I want you to know there is a vast difference in the number of people who admire a man when he is going up and the number of people who admire him when he is going down. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 14:20. The poor is hated — That is, despised and abandoned, as hateful persons and things are; of his own neighbour — Strictly so called of persons nearest to him, either by habitation or relation, and therefore most obliged to love and help him; but the rich hath many friends — As matter of fact daily shows. Every one is ready to make court to those whom the world smiles upon, though otherwise unworthy. Such, however, are not so much friends to the rich as to their riches, hoping to get some benefit by them. There is little friendship in the world but what is governed by self- interest, which is no true friendship at all; nor what a wise man will value himself upon, or put any confidence in.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_14:21. Poor, or “suffering” (Delitzsch).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_14:20-21

AN AGGRAVATED CRIME, A QUESTIONABLE VIRTUE, AND A PRESENT BLESSING

I. A fourfold sin. A man who despises or hates his neighbour sins—

1. In the simple exercise of the feeling. Hatred, or even the act of despising another, is in itself a sin. Here we must distinguish between hatred of the person and hatred of his practices—between despising a man himself and despising his actions. God Himself hates and abhors evil character, but he makes a distinction between a man’s character and the man. To hate or to despise any human creature is devilish.

2. By hating or despising him for his poverty. Poverty is a calamity often—always a burden and a cross. It is that for which a man should be pitied, and on account of which he should receive the sympathy of his fellow-men. Poverty is a burden heavy enough in itself, to add to it in any way is diabolical.

3. Because he hates and despises his fellow-sufferer. It is not a man beneath him, of whose trials he is ignorant, but his neighbour, one with whom he is on a level. The proverb speaks of one poor man hating another. Cases are not uncommon in which men who have risen from poverty to wealth hate and despise the class from which they have risen even more than those do who were born to rank and wealth. And sometimes men who have risen are hated by those whom they have left behind in the race. But for a poor man to dislike and to despise another poor man for his poverty, is a most unnatural and aggravated crime. A common calamity generally makes men feel a kinship for each other. Those who partake of a common lot generally feel a common sympathy. The poor do not generally hate and despise the poor. The poor man who does commit this sin against his neighbour commits a double sin against himself, for he knows himself the trials of his poor brother, and, therefore, does not sin through ignorance or inconsiderateness.

4. Against God. God “putteth down one, and setteth up another” (Psa_75:7). It is His ordination that “the poor shall never cease out of the land” (Deu_15:11). They are His especial care (Psa_12:5, etc.), and He will count any addition to their burden as a wrong to Himself.

II. A questionable virtue. “The rich hath many friends.” Friendship with a rich man may spring from social equality. There is a natural tendency in men who are equals in anything to form friendships with each other. Men of the same moral standing do so, men of the same intellectual attainments are attracted to each other, and men who are equals in social rank and in wealth are, by the force of circumstances, often thrown into each other’s society, and so a friendship which is real may be formed. But it is a more questionable bond than that which unites men in the two first-mentioned cases. It may be only a counterfeit of the genuine article, and it is nothing more if wealth is the only bond. Friendships formed upon similarity of intellectual and moral wealth have a far firmer foundation, because they rest upon what is inseparable from the man himself, while friendship founded upon riches has for its foundation what may at any time take to itself wings and fly away. Or the friendship may be one of social inequality. A poor man may attach himself to a wealthy man. This, too, may be genuine. The friendship may be built upon something which both value more than wealth; but if the friendship of the rich with the rich is regarded with doubt, and requires adversity to test it, much more does the friendship of the poor for the rich. The proof of the genuineness of the metal is the fire, the proof of the seaworthiness of the vessel is the storm, and it is an universally recognised truth that the proof of friendship is power to come uninjured through the fire and storm of adverse circumstances.

III. A present blessedness. “He that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.”

1. Happy because “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Act_20:35), because gladness always comes to the heart when an effort has been made to lighten another’s burden.

2. Happy in possessing the gratitude and confidence of his poor brother.

3. Happy because he wins the favour of God. (See on Pro_14:31).

ILLUSTRATION OF Pro_14:20

The bees were haunting the flowering trees in crowds, humming among the branches, and gathering honey in the flowers. Said Gott-hold, “Here is an image of temporal prosperity. So long as there is blossom on the trees, and honey in the blossom, the bees will frequent them in crowds, and fill the place with their music; but when the blossom is over, and the honey gone, they too will disappear.” Temporal gain is the world’s honey, and the allurement with which you may entice it whithersoever you will; but where the gain terminates, there likewise do the love and friendship of the world stop.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

Pro_14:20. Alas! it is a mystery of knowledge to discern friends: “Wealth maketh many friends” (chap. Pro_19:4); they are friends to the wealth, not to the wealthy. They regard not qualis sis, but quantas, not how good thou art, but how great. They admire thee to thy face, but inwardly consider thee only as a necessary evil, yea, a necessary devil.… Worldly friends are like hot water, that when cold weather comes, are soonest frozen. Like cuckoos all summer they will sing to thee, but they are gone in July at furthest; sure enough before the fall. They flatter a rich man, as we feed beasts, and then feed on him.—T. Adams.

How former friendship etween two persons may be transformed into its opposite on account of the impoverishment of one of them, is impressively illustrated by our Lord’s parable of the neighbour whom a friend asks for three loaves (Luk_11:5-8).—Lange’s Commentary.

The same word in the original which signifieth a friend signifieth a neighbour also, because a neighbour should be a friend. But though a rich man hath friends far and near, a poor man is hated even of his neighbour. He that best knoweth his wants and should most of all pity them, doth least regard him and use him worst. He that is nearest at hand to help him is farthest off from helping him. Wherefore the neighbourhood of man being so bad, God becometh his neighbour, and as it is in the Psalms (Psa_109:31). “He standeth at the right hand of the poor to save him.”—Jermin.

Pro_14:21. The impenitent is the poorest among men; and he who neglects him, and lets him go on in his iniquity, of course, is a cruel sinner. “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that lead many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.” He who despises his neighbour “sins,” literally “misses,” “blunders.” He wastes a splendid opportunity, not only for his neighbour, but for himself. The appeal is to self, and is made more intense where, instead of “despising” our neighbour, we actually “devise evil” against him (See next verse).—Miller.

1. There is sin against the arrangements of God’s providence.

2. Against the frequent and express commands of His word (Deu_15:7-11); Luk_12:33; Luk_14:12-14).

3. Against the manifestation of His distinguishing love. God has not only avowed Himself jealous for the poor, but “to the poor the gospel is preached,” and of those who become the subjects of God’s grace, and heirs of glory, a large proportion belong to this class.

4. In the contempt of God’s threatened vengeance against all who neglect them, and of His promised special favour to all who treat them with kindness.—Wardlaw.

We show our contempt of the poor, not only by trampling upon them, but by overlooking them, or by withholding that help for which their distress loudly calls. The Levite and the priest that declined giving assistance to the wounded traveller on the way to Jericho, were notorious breakers of the law of love in the judgment of our Lord. The Samaritan was the only one that performed the duty of a neighbour.—Lawson.

Through the gate of beneficence doth the charitable man enter into the city of peace … God makes some rich, to help the poor; and suffers some poor to try the rich. The loaden would be glad of ease: now charity lighteneth the rich man of his superfluous and unwieldy carriage. When the poor find mercy they will be tractable; when the rich find quiet, they should be charitable. Would you have your goods kept in peace? First, lock them up by your prayers, then open them again with your thankful use, and trust them in the hands of Christ by your charity.—T. Adams.

He that hath mercy on the poor maketh the other’s misery to be his own happiness, and as the other is comforted by it, so is he blessed by it. Blessed he is by the poor and his prayers for him, blessed he is by God and His favours upon him. Tabitha had reached out her hand to give unto the poor, and Peter reacheth out his hand in delivering her from death. She had bestowed clothing on the poor, and life is bestowed upon her. Wherefore the exhortation of Chrysostom is, “those things which God hath given us, let us give Him again, that so with advantage they may be again made ours.”—Jermin.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:20 This proverb might commend moderation, having neither too little nor too much (30:7-9).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

This shows, not what should be, but what is the common way of the world - to be shy of the poor and fond of the rich. 1. Few will give countenance to those whom the world frowns upon, though otherwise worthy of respect: The poor, who should be pitied, and encouraged, and relieved, is hated, looked strange upon, and kept at a distance, even by his own neighbour, who, before he fell into disgrace, was intimate with him and pretended to have a kindness for him. Most are swallow-friends, that are gone in winter. It is good having God our friend, for he will not desert us when we are poor. 2. Every one will make court to those whom the world smiles upon, though otherwise unworthy: The rich have many friends, friends to their riches, in hope to get something out of them. There is little friendship in the world but what is governed by self-interest, which is no true friendship at all, nor what a wise man will either value himself on or put any confidence in. Those that make the world their God idolize those that have most of its good things, and seek their favour as if indeed they were Heaven's favourites.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

This sad but true picture of human nature is not given approvingly, but only as a fact.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. But the rich hath many friends.] Many who speak to him the language of friendship; but if they profess friendship because he is rich, there is not one real friend among them. There is a fine saying of Cicero on this subject: Ut hirundines festivo tempore praesto sunt, frigore pulsae recedunt: ita falsi amici sereno tempore praesto sunt: simul atque fortunae hiemem viderint, evolant omnes. - Lib. iv., ad Herenn. "They are like swallows, who fly off during the winter, and quit our cold climates; and do not return till the warm season: but as soon as the winter sets in, they are all off again." So Horace: -

Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos:

Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes.

"As long as thou art prosperous, thou shalt have many friends: but who of them will regard thee when thou hast lost thy wealth?"

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(20) The poor is hated even of his own neighbour.—This sad experience of life is repeated in Pro_19:7. The following verse serves as a corrective of this selfish tendency of mankind.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The poor is hated even of his own neighbour,.... As well as of strangers; that is, he is shy of him; he does not care to take any notice of him, or be friendly with him, lest he should be burdensome to him. Poverty brings a man into contempt and disgrace; the same man, in affluence and indigence, is respected or disrespected: this is true, as Gersom observes, of a man that is poor, whether in money or in knowledge, in his purse or in his understanding;

but the rich hath many friends; or, "many are the lovers of the rich" (r): for the sake of their riches; either for the sake of honour or profit, or because the rich want nothing of them, or because they themselves may gain something by them: this also is observed by the above Jewish commentator to be true of the rich in substance or in wisdom; but the former sense is best; for a wise man, if poor in the world, is but little regarded.

(r) "et amatores divitiis spissi", Schultens; "dilectores autem divitis multi sunt", Piscator. "Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos", Ovid. Trist. Eleg. 8. "Dat census honores, census amicitias", ib. Fasti, l. 1. so Phocylides, v. 925, 926.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The maxim, jarring as it is, represents the generalization of a wide experience; but the words which follow Pro 14:21 show that it is not to be taken by itself. In spite of all the selfish morality of mere prudence, the hearer is warned that to despise his “neighbor” (Christians must take the word in all the width given to it by the parable of the Good Samaritan) is to sin. The fullness of blessing comes on him who sees in the poor the objects of his mercy.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Many. "Riches make friends, poverty tries them." (Syrus.) --- False friends resemble swallows, which retire at the approach of winter. (Cicero, ad Heren. iv.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Is hated, i.e. despised and abandoned, as hateful persons and things are.

His own neighbour; strictly so called, who is nearest to him, either by habitation or by relation, and therefore most obliged to love and help him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. Hated — That is, treated with neglect or contempt, as if hated, while the rich man commands attention. Compare Pro_19:4; Pro_19:7; Job_19:13-14; Job_30:10.

Neighbour — Or, friend.

But the rich hath many friends — Literally, the lovers of the rich are many.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The poor is hated even of his own neighbour. (Pro_19:4, Pro_19:7) This sad experience of selfishness (comp. Ecc_6:8, etc.; 12:8) is corrected by the following verse, which must be taken in connection with this; at the same time, it is a truth which has been expressed in various ways by many moralists and satirists. Says the Greek Theognis Pav tiv plousion andra tiei atiei de penicron. "The rich all honour, but the poor man slight.

Says Ovid, "Trist.," 1:9. 6"Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos; Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris." "Prosperous, you many friends will own; In cloudy days you stand alone.

In the Talmud we find (Dukes, "Rabb. Blum."), "At the door of the tavern there are many brethren and friends, at the poor man"s gate not one." The rich hath many friends. Says Theognis again Eu men econtov emou polloi filoi hn de ti deinon Sugkursh pauroi piston. ~

And again, a distich which might have been written today Plhyei d anyrwpwn areth mia gignetai hde Ploutein twn d allwn oude .. "One only virtue you must needs possess (As say the most of men), and that is wealth; All others are of small account.

Vers. 20-27. Causes and effects.

To grasp this principle there is nothing causeless and unaccountable in life and to apply it is one of the main principles of wisdom. Let us note some of its applications

I TO SOCIAL RELATIONS.

1. Poverty an object of dislike, and riches magnetic of good will. (Ver. 20) Widespread parallels may be found in ancient literature to this saying. Its truth is equally obvious today. It is a truth of human nature, and has its bad and its good side. We are apt to be impatient of those who are always needing help, and are disposed to serve those who need nothing. It is a lower illustration of the law that "to him that hath it shall be given." Independence of any kind which implies power and self-help is attractive to all; and we should seek it by all legitimate means. If a man is shunned by others, it may be because they instinctively feel there is nothing but dejection to be found in his company, while they need cheerful confidence and helpfulness. The good man should strive after competence that he may secure good will, and have free scope for the cultivation of virtue and the exercise of his powers. Another indirect lesson is that friendship thrives best in equal conditions of life.

2. The sources of contempt and of compassion. (Ver. 21) This seems to correct what might appear harsh in the former saying. Contempt for anything but what is evil in life, or petty and trivial in thought and sentiment, springs from a bad state of the heart. There are things we ought all to despise i.e. look down upon but certainly the mere poverty of our neighbour or friend is not one of them. Compassion upon those who are in trouble is, on the other hand, a feeling truly Divine. It extorts the blessing of men; it receives the approval of God, the All-compassionate One.

3. The sources of social security. (Ver. 25) "Souls are saved," human life is preserved, the bonds of intercourse are held together, by the truthful man. Hearts are betrayed, covenants are broken, the integrity of life is shattered, by the deceiver, the hypocrite, and the slanderer.

II TO PERSONAL BLESSINGS AND THE REVERSE.

1. The sources of perplexity or of peace are in the mans own mind. (Ver. 22) His errors come from the falsity and malice of his own counsels, as the effect from the cause. And equally the blessed sense of the Divine presence and the Divine favour is conditioned by the seeking of it in the mind, the heart, the life. To imagine that we can enjoy good without being good is a sort of superstition.

2. Causes of gain and want. (Ver. 23) One of the most valuable of Carlyle"s teachings was to this effect the reward that we all receive and of which we are perfectly certain, if we have deserved it, consists in having done our work, or at least having taken pains to do our work, for that is of itself a great blessing, and one is inclined to say that, properly speaking, there is no other reward in this world. And men bring themselves to want by neglecting their proper work, by idle talk, and waste of time and daylight. "Work while it is called today.

3. Hence, well gotten wealth is a testimonial to the earner of it. (Ver. 24) It is an ornament, a decoration in which he may feel a juster pride than in stars, or garters, or patents of nobility, which carry no such significance. On the other hand, the folly of the fool is and remains folly, however he may plume himself, however by means of wealth or factitious advantages he may seek to pass for somebody before the world.

4. But deeper than these are the specifically religious blessings. (Ver. 26) Security springs from religion; and religion is the constant habit of regard for God, his will in loving obedience, his favour as the most precious possession. God himself is a Refuge to his children, and they will not fear. The very source of life itself is religion, and nothing but the fear of God in the heart can preserve from the deathful snares which attend our way. J.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hated - Despised and abandoned.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Three proverbs on the hatred of men:

20 The poor is hated even by his neighbour;

But of those who love the rich there are many.

This is the old history daily repeating itself. Among all people is the saying and the complaint:

Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos,

Tempora si fuerint nubilia solus eris.

(Note: Ovid, Trist. i. 8.)

The Book of Proverbs also speaks of this lamentable phenomenon. It is a part of the dark side of human nature, and one should take notice of it, so that when it goes well with him, he may not regard his many friends as all genuine, and when he becomes poor, he may not be surprised by the dissolution of earlier friendship, but may value so much the higher exceptions to the rule. The connection of the passive with ל of the subject (cf. Pro 13:13), as in the Greek with the dative, is pure Semitic; sometimes it stands with מן, but in the sense of ἀπό, Sol 3:10, before the influence of the West led to its being used in the sense of ὑπό (Ges. 143, 2); ישּׂנא, is hated (Cod. 1294: ישּׂנא, connects with the hatred which is directed against the poor also the indifference which makes him without sympathy, for one feels himself troubled by him and ashamed.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

An humbling, but how common an illustration of native selfishness. Sometimes however we hear of cheering exceptions. "Ruth clave to Naomi" in her poverty;†1 Jonathan to David, when stripped of royal favor.†2 But too generally the poor, instead of being pitied and comforted (Job 6:14 . Isa 58:7 ), is hated or neglected of his own neighbour.†3 Yet the rich is not in a more enviable condition. He has many friends indeed to his money and favor, but few to his interest. Many would be the deserters, should a change of circumstance cut off supplies for their appetites, pleasures, or covetousness. (Pro 19:4, Pro 19:6 .) But how endearing is the love of Jesus! He was emphatically the Poor man’s Friend. (Psa 72:12, Psa 72:14 .) He sought his many friends among the wretched and forlorn (Mat 4:18-22 ); and still does his powerful compassion plead for those hated ones among their fellow-sinners. (Psa 109:31 .) Shall not we then, like the tried saint of old, learn to look off from earthly destitution in a cleaving confidence on Him, as the Rock of our salvation? (Job 19:13-27 .) The practical exercise of this confidence will be an overcoming of our selfish propensity; cultivating that tenderness, which, instead of shrinking from the sight of misery, hastens, though at the expense of personal sacrifice, to its sympathizing relief. (Luk 10:33-35 .)

Footnotes:

†1 Rth 1:14, Rth 1:21-22 .

†2 1Sa 19:1-7 ; 1Sa 23:16 .

†3 Pro 10:15; Pro 19:4, Pro 19:7 . Luk 16:21 .

Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se,

Quam quod ridiculos homines facit. — Juvenal, iii. 152, 153.

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

v. 20. The poor is hated even of his own neighbor, for the loss of wealth immediately changes the attitude of false friends, who now find their impoverished neighbor obnoxious; but the rich hath many friends, such as profess friendship for him as long as they partake of his bounty.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The poor man is hated even by his friend Even by his friends who accompany him to his wedding and by his close friends. even Heb. גם, an expression meaning even.

The poor man is hated The ignoramus, who does not know how to behave properly.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.