Proverbs 6:11

and your poverty will come like a robber, ¹  and your need like an armed man. ² 

and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.

and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!

Then loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man

and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior.

So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

and your poverty will come like a robber, ¹  and your need like an armed man. ² 

¹ tn Heb “like a wayfarer” or “like a traveler” (cf. KJV). The LXX has “swiftness like a traveler.” It has also been interpreted as a “highwayman” (cf. NAB) or a “dangerous assailant.” W. McKane suggests “vagrant” (Proverbs [OTL], 324); cf. NASB “vagabond.” Someone traveling swiftly would likely be a robber.

² tn The Hebrew word for “armed” is probably connected to the word for “shield” and “deliver” (s.v. גָּנַן). G. R. Driver connects it to the Arabic word for “bold; insolent,” interpreting its use here as referring to a beggar or an insolent man (“Studies in the Vocabulary of the Old Testament, IV,” JTS 33 [1933]: 38-47).