14:21
This verse contrasts a person who despises his neighbor with a person who accepts him and treats him with kindness and generosity.
21a
He who despises his neighbor sins,
21b but blessed is he who shows kindness to the poor.
The parallelism with 14:21b implies that the neighbor is clearly someone who is poor or needy. The close connection with the topic of 14:20 also makes it likely that the word “neighbor” has the same meaning as in that verse.
The Berean Standard Bible reorders the parts of 14:21b so that the parallel parts sins and blessed occur in the opposite order. The New Living Translation (2004) reorders the parts of 14:21a. It has:
21a
It is sin to despise one’s neighbors
The NET Bible follows the Hebrew order for both lines. It has:
21a
The one who despises his neighbor sins,
21b but whoever is kind to the needy is blessed.
You should arrange the parts in whatever order expresses the contrast effectively in your language.
14:21a
despises: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as despises means to look down on or consider of little value. See the note on 11:12a, where the Berean Standard Bible translates the term as “shows contempt.”
14:21b
blessed: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as blessed probably means “happy.” For example:
happy is he who is kind to the poor (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
If you want to be happy, be kind to the poor (Good News Translation)
This word is not the same word that is used in other verses about God blessing people. See the notes on 3:13a and 8:32b, where this word is used and the Berean Standard Bible translates it as “blessed.”
the poor: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as poor refers to people who are needy. It emphasizes that they suffer some kind of distress or disability. Because such people have low status in society, their lives are difficult. Others often oppress them.
The Berean Standard Bible translates the same Hebrew word as “humble” in 16:19a. See the footnote there. Many English versions, including the Berean Standard Bible, use the general term “poor” here. Another way to translate this word is:
needy (New International Version)
See the note on 10:4a and the footnote there that provides information on the other words for “poor” in Proverbs.
General Comment on 14:21a–b
The Good News Translation (quoted above) uses the pronoun “you.” The English Standard Version uses “his/he” In some languages, it may also be appropriate to use “we(incl.) ” or “we(dual).” Use whatever pronoun is natural in your language for a proverb that gives advice.
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel parts that are similar in meaning. See 14:21a–b (combined/reordered) in the Display.
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