Proverbs 6:11

Pro 6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

Ver. 11. As a traveller, and thy want as an armed man.] That is, Speedily and irresistibly. Men must sweat out a living, and earn their bread before they eat it. {2Th 3:12} Think not to have wealth without working; as cities and towns are said to have fallen into Timotheus’s toil as he was sleeping - with so much ease he took them in. Spontaneae lassitudines morbos praecedunt, {a} roamings and reachings forerun diseases; so doth sluggishness usher in penury; when, as manus motitans, "the nimble hand maketh rich"; {Pro 10:4} and "in all labour there is abundance." {Pro 14:23} But, Nae, illi falsi sunt qui diversissimas res expectant ignaviae voluptatem et praemia virtutis. {b} They are utterly out that think to have the pleasure of idleness, and the plenty of painfulness.

{a} Hippocrat.

{b} Salust.

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.

It shall come in such sort, as thou are not able to resist it.

That is, suddenly, and when thou lookest not for it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

and the fruits of their self-indulgence and indolence presented.

as . . . travelleth--literally, "one who walks backwards and forwards," that is, a highwayman.

armed man--that is, one prepared to destroy.

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 11. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth] That is, with slow, but surely approaching steps.

Thy want as an armed man.] That is, with irresistible fury; and thou art not prepared to oppose it. The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Arabic add the following clause to this verse: -

"But if thou wilt be diligent, thy harvest shall be as a fountain; and poverty shall flee far away from thee."

It is also thus in the Old MS. Bible: If forsothe unslow thou shul ben; shul comen as a welle thi rip; and nede fer shal fleen fro thee.

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

(11) As one that travelleth.—The form of the Hebrew is intensive, “one who moves swiftly,” as in Psa_104:3, it is applied to God’s “moving upon the wings of the wind.” While the sluggard sleeps, poverty is coming on apace.

AS an armed man.—Against whom the sleeper will be defenceless. Pro_6:10-11 are repeated in Pro_24:33-34.

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

11. one that travelleth … an armed man] The figure is two-fold. The doom of the sluggard travels swiftly and is inevitable. While he slumbers inertly, Poverty is coming on apace, drawing nearer to him every moment; and when it comes, it falls upon him like an armed man (Heb. “man with a shield”) from whom there is no escape.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A naughty person, a wicked man,.... Or, "a man of Belial, a man of iniquity" (w). The former signifies an unprofitable man, a man good for nothing, that is of no use to God or man; or one that is lawless, that has thrown off the yoke of the law, and will not be subject to it; Belial is the name of the devil; and here it may design such as are his children, and will do his lusts: the latter phrase signifies one that is wholly given up to work wickedness. The characters well agree with the the lawless one, the man of sin and son of perdition, antichrist, Th2 2:3. Who

walketh with a froward mouth; speaking perverse things, things contrary to the light of nature and reason, to law and Gospel; uttering lies, and deceit, and blasphemies against God and man; to which he has used himself, and in which he continues, as the word "walketh" signifies: so antichrist has a mouth opened in blasphemies against God and his saints, Rev 13:5.

(w) "homo Belijahal, vir iniquitatis", Montanus, Vatablus, Baynus, Michaelis.

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

The similitude is drawn from the two sources of Eastern terror: the “traveler,” i. e., “the thief in the night,” coming suddenly to plunder; the “armed man,” literally “the man of the shield,” the armed robber. The habit of indolence is more fatally destructive than these marauders.

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

A traveller. Septuagint add, "wicked," and Hebrew gives the idea of a robber. (Menochius) --- But, &c. This is not in Hebrew, Complutensian, or St. Jerome. (Calmet)

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).

As one that travaileth, swiftly and unexpectedly. As an armed man, irresistibly or unavoidably.

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

So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. The inevitable consequences of slothpoverty and want, two terms conveying the idea of utter destitution are described under a twofold aspect: first, as certain; second, as irresistible. Poverty will advance upon the sluggard with the unerring precision and swiftness with which a traveller tends towards the end of his journey, or, as Michaelis puts it, "quasi viator qui impigre pergit ac proprius venit donec propositum itineris scopum contingat" (Michaelis, "Notre Uberiores"). Muffet, in loc., keeping to the figure, however, explains differently, "Poverty shall overtake thee, as a swift traveller does one who walks slowly." The Authorized Version, "as one that travelleth," correctly represents the original kim"hallek. There is no ground whatever, from the use of the verb, for rendering the piel participle m"hallek as "a robber." The verb halak invariably means "to go, or walk," and the piel or intensive form of the verb means "to walk vigorously, or quickly." The participle can only mean this in the two other passages where it occurs Psa_104:3 and Ecc_4:14. The substantive helek in 2Sa_12:4 also signifies "a traveller." So the Vulgate here, quasi viator. The other view, it is stated, is required by the parallel expression in the second hemistich, "as an armed man," and receives some support from the LXX reading, wsper kakorov , "as an evil traveller," which may mean either a traveller bringing evil news, or one who wanders about with an evil intention and purpose, in the sense of the Latin grassator, "a highwayman." In this case the meaning would be that poverty shall come upon the sluggard as he is indulging in his sloth, and leave him destitute as if stripped by a robber. But the destitution of the sluggard wilt not only be certain and swift, it will be also irresistible. His want shall come upon him as an armed man (k"ish magen); literally, as a man of a shield; Vulgate, quasi vir armatus; i.e. like one fully equipped, and who attacks his foe with such onset and force that against him resistance is useless. As the unarmed, unprepared man succumbs to such an opponent, so shall the sluggard fall before want. The expressions," thy poverty" and thy want," represent the destitution of the sluggard as flowing directly from his own habit of self-indulgence. It is his in a special manner) and he, not others, is alone responsible for it. Compare, beside the parallel passage Pro_24:33, the similar teaching in Pro_10:4 Pro_13:4 Pro_20:4. The Vulgate, LXX, and Arabic Versions at the close of this verse add, "But if thou art diligent, the harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee;" the LXX making a further addition, "as a bad runner (wsper kakov )." It is observable, in comparing this section with the preceding, that the teacher pursues the subject of the sluggard to its close, while he leaves the end of the surety undetermined. The explanation may be in the difference in character of the two. The surety may escape the consequences of his act, but there is no such relief for the sluggard. His slothfulness becomes a habit, which increases the more it is indulged in, and leads to consequences which are as irremediable as they are inevitable.

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

Travelleth - Swiftly and unexpectedly. Armed man - Irresistibly.

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

And your poverty shall come like a fast walker If you do this [keep sleeping], your loss and the thing from which you are impoverished shall come to you immediately, like a man walking fast, and your want will come and fill up

like an armed man. who comes quickly to protect his master. These verses are mainly an allegory concerning those who are [too] lazy to engage in the Torah.

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.