No Produce from Uncultivated Field
Proverbs 13:23 (NKJV)
23 Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor, And for lack of justice there is waste.
Proverbs 13:23 (NASB)
23 Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, But it is swept away by injustice.
Proverbs 13:23 (AMP)
23 Much food is in the tilled land of the poor, but there are those who are destroyed because of injustice.
Proverbs 13:23 (CJB)
23 The fields of the poor may yield much food, but some are swept away because of injustice.
Proverbs 13:23 (NIV)
23 A poor man’s field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away.
Proverbs 13:23 (NIV2011)
23 An unplowed field produces food for the poor, but injustice sweeps it away.
Proverbs 13:23 (NLT2)
23 A poor person’s farm may produce much food, but injustice sweeps it all away.
Proverbs 13:23 (HCSB)
23 The uncultivated field of the poor yields abundant food, but without justice, it is swept away.
All of the eight translations above speak of an uncultivated field of a poor man yielding abundant food. But this does not make sense because a field that is uncultivated produces nothing but weeds and thistles.
Proverbs 13:23 (KJV)
23 Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
The KJV is closer than the previous eight translations listed in saying that there is much food in the tillage of the poor but in fact tillage means cultivation. But the other eight translations all said that the poor man’s field was uncultivated or not tilled! The other eight translations also said that the produce of the poor man was swept away by injustice (as if a crooked politician stole the fruit of the labors of this poor man)! The KJV 1611 version is better than the other eight versions when it speaks of destruction that comes from want of judgment.
What this scripture is actually speaking about is the fact that the land of a poor man has “potential” to produce a crop if it is not left idle to grow up in weeds. But what good could have come from that soil in the way of produce was lost because of the lack of judgment of the poor man. If the poor man does not save seed for planting (but consumes his seed) then he will have nothing in his future. His future is lost not because he lacks land to grow crops but he lacks the good judgment of saving seed for planting and capital for investment to plant a crop. Therefore, his field is left idle and grows up in weeds and produces nothing. This type of poverty is self-inflicted because of a lack of judgement and good foresight from the poor man who created his own poverty!
Proverbs 13:23 (KJV)-M
23 There is much (potential) food is in the tillage of the poor: but what good the poor man may have obtained from a harvest of crops was lost due to a lack of judgment (when the poor man failed to save seed for sowing and capital for investments).
This scripture would have been better translated as seen above in the modified version of the KJV. Here I made it clear that the man was poor because of a lack of judgment and by not following the biblical principle of seedtime and harvest and saving seed for planting and investment capital for farming. If a man eats his last seed then that will be the last meal he ever eats! This goes together with the Jewish Torah principle of saving seed for future planting and saving investment capital for future investments.
See the Jewish Torah principle “Seed for Future” for more details
These modern bible translators seem to hold to the faulty logic that the poor are victims of injustice (as if some politician is stealing their livelihood). But in fact, most poverty on earth is self-inflected when people disobey or break God’s laws of seedtime and harvest and do not save seed for sowing or capital for investments. If the poor man owns land but fails to produce a crop then it was his own lack of foresight to save seed for planting that will result in his own self-inflicted poverty.
Proverbs 20:4 (HCSB)
4 The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.
This scripture above describes self-inflicted poverty when a slacker is too lazy to plow the field in planting season so therefore, he will have nothing and starve at harvest time because he will have no harvest.
The bible says that if a slacker does not plow or plant, he will have nothing and come to poverty and the same is also true of a poor man who does not have enough sense to save seed for planting and investment capital for farming. He will also go hungry and have nothing at harvest time.
The way a scripture is translated can give it an entirely different meaning but that meaning should comply with the overall big-picture principles of the word of God otherwise that meaning is in error.