Proverbs 14:21
He that despises his neighbour sins: but he that has mercy on the poor, happy is he.
Updated King James Version
In The King James Version
He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.
In Context
20The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich has many friends.
22Do they not go astray that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.
Cross References
Job 31:13If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
Psalms 22:24For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
Psalms 41:2The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and you will not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
Psalms 112:9He has dispersed, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.
Proverbs 11:24There is that scatters, and yet increases; and there is that withholds more than is meet, but it tends to poverty.
Proverbs 17:5Whoso mocks the poor reproaches his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 14:21
20 The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends. This shows, not what should be, but what is the common way of the world—to be shy of the poor and fond of the rich. 1. Few will give countenance to those whom the world frowns upon, though otherwise worthy of respect: The poor, who should be pitied, and encouraged, and relieved, is hated, looked strange upon, and kept at a distance, even by his own neighbour, who, before he fell into disgrace, was intimate with him and pretended to… Read the whole commentary →