Proverbs 17:5

The one who mocks the poor ¹  insults ²  his Creator; whoever rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished.

He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

He who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.

Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who rejoice at the misfortune of others will be punished.

Whoever mocks poor people, insults their Creator; gloating over misfortune is a punishable crime.

Whoever makes sport of the poor puts shame on his Maker; and he who is glad because of trouble will not go free from punishment.

Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

The one who mocks the poor ¹  insults ²  his Creator; whoever rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished.

¹ sn The parallelism helps define the subject matter: The one who “mocks the poor” (NAB, NASB, NIV) is probably one who “rejoices [NIV gloats] over disaster.” The poverty is hereby explained as a disaster that came to some. The topic of the parable is the person who mocks others by making fun of their misfortune.

² sn The Hebrew word translated “insults” (חֵרֵף, kheref) means “reproach; taunt” (as with a cutting taunt); it describes words that show contempt for or insult God. The idea of reproaching the Creator may be mistaking and blaming God’s providential control of the world (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 337). W. G. Plaut, however, suggests that mocking the poor means holding up their poverty as a personal failure and thus offending their dignity and their divine nature (Proverbs, 187).