Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 21:17 - 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
" He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil won’t be rich. "
Proverbs 21:17
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
15 It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
16 The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.
17 He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil won’t be rich.
18 The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, the treacherous for the upright.
19 It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman.
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Create Free AccountBible Guided Commentary
This verse gives a warning against a life of luxury and pleasure, because it ruins a person’s earthly interests. It starts by describing the kind of person in view: one who loves pleasure. God allows us to enjoy the good things of the senses in a modest and proper way, such as wine that gladdens the heart and oil that makes the face shine and look healthy.
But the person who loves these things, sets his heart on them, and keeps wanting every pleasure made as strong as possible, has gone too far. He cannot bear anything that interrupts his enjoyment. He values these comforts above all else, and they dull his taste for spiritual joys. Such a person is like the one described in (2 Timothy 3:4).
The verse also tells what usually happens to such a person in this life. He becomes poor. A life ruled by sensual desire costs a great deal, and there are many examples of people who once could not live without rich food and luxury, but later had no money for even basic needs and had to live on charity. Many a dandy has ended up a beggar.
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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