Proverbs 21:17

17 He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

Proverbs 21:17 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 21:17

He that loveth pleasure [shall be] a poor man
Or "sport"


FOOTNOTES:

F3 and pastime, music and dancing, cards and dice, hunting and hawking, and other sensual gratifications; a man that indulges himself in these things, and spends his time and his money in such a way, is very likely to be a poor man, and generally is so in the issue; he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich;
that is, that loves them immoderately; otherwise in moderation they may be both loved and used; "wine" and "oil" are put for high living, luxurious feasts, costly entertainments; which being so, and continually made, will not suffer a man to be rich. The sense is, that an epicure, one that makes a god of his belly, that is both a winebibber and a glutton, that indulges to rich eating and drinking, in course lessens his substance, and leaves little for his heir: and this holds good with respect to spiritual as to temporal things; such persons are poor, and not rich in spiritual things, that indulge to carnal pleasure, and the gratification of their sensual appetite.
F3 (hxmv) "laetitiam", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schultens.

Proverbs 21:17 In-Context

15 When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers.
16 A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.
17 He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
18 The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright.
19 It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and fretful woman.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.