Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 21:13 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard. "
Proverbs 21:13
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
11 When the mocker is punished, the simple gains wisdom. When the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.
12 The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked, and brings the wicked to ruin.
13 Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.
14 A gift in secret pacifies anger, and a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.
15 It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
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This verse gives the picture and the judgment of a person who has no charity, no loving concern for others. The man described here stops his ears when the poor cry out. He refuses to notice their need, their misery, and their requests for help. He will not even give them a hearing, and if he cannot avoid hearing them, he still will not care or be moved by their pleas. He closes off his compassion, and that is the same as stopping his ears (Acts 7:57).
His judgment is that he will one day be brought into trouble himself, and then he will cry out for help. But no one will hear him. People will treat him the way he treated others. God will also refuse his prayers, because the one who showed no mercy will face judgment without mercy (James 2:13). The one who would not give even a little bread on earth will be denied even a drop of water in hell. God will be deaf to the prayers of those who were deaf to the cries of the poor, and if their suffering is not heard by us, it will be heard against us (Exodus 22:23).
From This Chapter
Proverbs 21:1
"The king’s heart is in the LORD’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires."
Proverbs 21:2
"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts."
Proverbs 21:3
"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
Proverbs 21:4
"A high look and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin."
Proverbs 21:5
"The plans of the diligent surely lead to profit; and everyone who is hasty surely rushes to poverty."
Proverbs 21:6
"Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death."
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