Psalms 37:21

Authorized King James Version (1611)

¶ The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹוֶ֣ה רָ֭שָׁע וְלֹ֣א יְשַׁלֵּ֑ם וְ֝צַדִּ֗יק חוֹנֵ֥ן וְנוֹתֵֽן׃

Transliteration

lōweh rāšāʿ and does not yəšallēm, but ṣaddîq ḥônēn wənôtēn.

Grammar Details

• *lōweh*: Qal participle, masculine singular - borrows
• *rāšāʿ*: masculine singular adjective/noun - wicked person
• *wəlōʾ*: conjunction + particle of negation - and not
• *yəšallēm*: Piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he repays
• *ṣaddîq*: masculine singular adjective/noun - righteous person
• *ḥônēn*: Qal participle, masculine singular - shows favor/is gracious
• *wənôtēn*: conjunction + Qal participle, masculine singular - and gives

Word Meanings

• *lōweh*: borrows/takes loans
• *yəšallēm*: repays/pays back/fulfills obligation
• *ḥônēn*: shows favor/is gracious/has mercy
• *nôtēn*: gives/donates/bestows

Referenced Verses

• Ps 112:5 : 5 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
• Ps 112:9 : 9 He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.
• Prov 22:7 : 7 ¶ The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower [is] servant to the lender.
• Deut 28:12 : 12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
• 2 Cor 8:9 : 9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
• Heb 13:16 : 16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
• Deut 15:9-9 : 9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. 10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. 11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
• 2 Cor 9:6-9 : 6 ¶ But this [I say], He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, [so let him give]; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 8 And God [is] able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all [things], may abound to every good work: 9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for [your] food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) 11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; 13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for [your] liberal distribution unto them, and unto all [men]; 14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks [be] unto God for his unspeakable gift.
• Heb 6:10 : 10 For God [is] not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
• Deut 28:43-44 : 43 The stranger that [is] within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
• 2 Kgs 4:1-5 : 1 ¶ Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. 3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, [even] empty vessels; borrow not a few. 4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. 5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought [the vessels] to her; and she poured out.
• Neh 5:1-5 : 1 ¶ And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. 2 For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, [are] many: therefore we take up corn [for them], that we may eat, and live. 3 [Some] also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. 4 There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, [and that upon] our lands and vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh [is] as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and [some] of our daughters are brought unto bondage [already]: neither [is it] in our power [to redeem them]; for other men have our lands and vineyards.
• Job 31:16-20 : 16 ¶ If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and [if] he were [not] warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
• Isa 32:8 : 8 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.
• Isa 58:7-9 : 7 [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 8 ¶ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And [if] thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness [be] as the noonday:
• Luke 6:30 : 30 ‹Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask› [them] ‹not again.›
• Acts 11:29 : 29 Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
• Acts 20:35 : 35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‹It is more blessed to give than to receive.›