Grace Answers
Proverbs of Solomon
Proverbs › Chapter 22 › Proverbs 22:9

What Does Proverbs 22:9 Mean?

He who has a generous eye will be blessed,For he gives of his bread to the poor.Proverbs 22:9 · NKJV

Quick answer

Generosity begins in the eye before it reaches the hand. The generous eye, literally the "good eye," sees need without looking away, and the giving follows: it is his own bread he shares.

Read both lines

The organ of generosity in this verse is not the wallet. The good eye is the Hebrew idiom for open-handed seeing, a way of looking at the world that notices need and regards it as a claim; its opposite, the evil eye of the miser, walks through this book too, counting every bite a guest takes (23:6, 28:22). The second line grounds the blessing in practice: he gives of his own bread, sight and generosity one motion. Such a person "will be blessed," the book's steady observed pattern (11:25). Jesus took the idiom to its depth: a good eye fills the whole body with light (Matthew 6:22).

Related: Proverbs 11:24–25 · Proverbs 19:17 · Matthew 6:22

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.