A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul,
but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Disaster pursues sinners,
but the righteous are rewarded with good.
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children,
but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.
The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food,
but it is swept away through injustice.
Whoever spares the rod hates his son,
but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,
but the belly of the wicked suffers want.Proverbs 13:19-25
The RSV reads 23 differently from the AV, and gives the meaning that there is food in plenty in the lands of the poor, but is often swept away through injustice. This makes good enough sense. One thinks for example of lands like India, with its frequent and repeated famines, where conditions have been on occasion made tragically worse by the injustice of evil men who have hoarded stocks of grain in order to sell at exorbitant prices. We could also put this on a more general basis, and remind ourselves that the food yield of the world should be sufficient to feed all its inhabitants; yet vast stocks of grain and other foodstuffs can be dumped and destroyed - for political, economic or other reasons - rather than make them available for the needs of deprived peoples. But the AV also makes good sense as it stands, giving a contrast between the ground of the poor which is well and industriously tilled, and that of the wealthy which is often neglected and squandered. The general message, in this sense, would be that of what we do with what we have, and if this be applied to spiritual life and resources, the challenge is a very forthright one. There are many spiritually under-privileged in the Church who make the most of what they have, while others who have the finest of the wheat lightly esteem it. One thinks of how preciously Christians in Czechoslovakia prize their times of fellowship and the ministry of the Word - no clock-watching there, or ten-minute sermons - whereas in places where there is an open Book and freedom to worship people will idle away their spiritual heritage. It is sometimes only when God removes a believer from a fellowship where he receives a steady diet of the Word and plants him in the midst of a waste and barren place that he learns to appreciate what he has lost.