This verse closes Solomon's central collection, Proverbs 10:1–22:16.
Quick answer
Two money strategies that look opposite and end identically: squeezing the poor to grow rich, and lavishing gifts on the rich to buy favor. Both bet against the grain of God's world.
Read both lines
One man preys downward, extracting wealth from the defenseless; the other flatters upward, funneling gifts to people who do not need them because they might repay in influence. Both treat neighbors purely as instruments of gain, and both, the proverb promises, arrive at poverty. The mechanics differ, the oppressor courts the Defender of the poor (22:22–23 will name Him), the flatterer pours resources into a hole that returns nothing, but the shared engine is the same miscalculation: wealth built against love of neighbor is built against the LORD's government of outcomes. As the collection's final verse, it ends Solomon's central book on a signature note: follow the money far enough and you always find a theology.
Related: Proverbs 14:31 · Proverbs 19:17 · Luke 6:33–35
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.