Wealth names material riches while the passage evaluates their source, use or place in a person's trust. David gives thanks that riches and honor come from God and that the people give from what they have received.
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Full entry for עֹשֶׁר (H6239) · Open the biblical lexicon
Wealth names material riches while the passage evaluates their source, use or place in a person's trust. David gives thanks that riches and honor come from God and that the people give from what they have received.
The BSB source-word alignment has 37 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include riches (12), wealth (4), in his riches (2), in riches (2), of his wealth (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 31:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (9), 2 Chronicles (6), Ecclesiastes (6), 1 Kings (3).
Wealth names material riches while the passage evaluates their source, use or place in a person's trust. David gives thanks that riches and honor come from God and that the people give from what they have received. Proverbs warns that the person trusting riches will fall, and Agur asks for neither poverty nor riches but his portion of bread. Ecclesiastes describes endless labor without enjoyment and wealth hoarded to its owner's harm, yet also speaks of receiving and enjoying God's gifts.
These accounts do not make wealth either automatic evidence of righteousness or an evil substance in every setting. Read what the person does with resources and where hope or boasting rests. Poverty likewise cannot become a verdict on a person's value. A word study can name gratitude, restraint, harmful trust and generous use without promising a reader financial success or judging an individual's heart from account balances.
Thanksgiving, warnings about trust, a prayer for sufficient bread and observations about toil and enjoyment give differing assessments of riches. The noun names resources while the surrounding teaching evaluates their relationship to God and others.
Both riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler over all. In Your hands are power and might to exalt and give strength to all.
David attributes riches and honor to God within thanksgiving, and verse 14 says the people give from what came from His hand rather than earning superiority through possession.
He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like foliage.
The warning addresses trusting riches and contrasts this with the flourishing righteous, so the misplaced reliance must remain the stated issue.
Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.
Agur asks for neither poverty nor riches but his portion of bread, then names dangers of denying God or stealing under deprivation.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Wealth viewed as accumulated possessions; often carries theological ambivalence regarding trust and spiritual faithfulness in OT
Wealth viewed as accumulated possessions; often carries theological ambivalence regarding trust and spiritual faithfulness in OT
wealth BDB: riches Usage: × far (richer), riches.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 37 lexical occurrence verses.
עֹשֶׁר is built from this root:
The proverb contrasts material wealth with the greater value of honor.Proverbs 11:16
The term represents the false security people often place in possessions.Proverbs 11:4
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Riches do not interpret themselves. David's prayer receives them within God's generosity and answers with thanks, while Proverbs names the danger of trusting them. Agur's request asks for bread sufficient for his portion and acknowledges risks in both excess and deprivation. Ecclesiastes shows how accumulation can consume enjoyment and how hoarded or lost wealth can harm an owner; it also recognizes receiving and enjoying God's gifts.
A teacher should keep these different statements visible rather than selecting only abundance or only danger. The issue is not solved by counting possessions or assigning moral status to an income level. Follow the named conduct and trust, invite gratitude and responsible care, and refuse promises that a contribution will produce guaranteed riches. Material need deserves attention without being converted into a diagnosis of deficient faith.
Prov.30.8
The licensed Hebrew noun denotes wealth or riches. Its meaning does not contain a verdict that an owner is blessed or corrupt; verbs of trust, boasting and giving, and the surrounding observations, explain how a particular passage evaluates possession.
First Timothy 6:17-19 instructs the rich not to place hope in uncertain wealth but in God, and calls them to good works, generosity and sharing. This is a separate Greek exhortation, not another occurrence of the Hebrew noun. Its named hope and conduct align with the wisdom warnings while leaving the reader without permission to judge a person's final standing from possessions.