Proverbs 22:7

The rich rule over ¹  the poor, and the borrower is servant ²  to the lender.

The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.

Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.

The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don't borrow and put yourself under their power.

The man of wealth has rule over the poor, and he who gets into debt is a servant to his creditor.

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.

The rich rule over ¹  the poor, and the borrower is servant ²  to the lender.

¹ sn The proverb is making an observation on life. The synonymous parallelism matches “rule over” with “servant” to show how poverty makes people dependent on, or obligated to, others.

² tn Or “slave” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, CEV). This may refer to the practice in Israel of people selling themselves into slavery to pay off debts (Exod 21:2-7).