Proverbs 22:27

If you do not have enough to pay, your bed ¹  will be taken ²  right out from under you! ³ 

if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.

If you have nothing with which to pay, Why should he take your bed from under you?

If you can’t pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you.

The time will come when you have to pay up; you'll be left with nothing but the shirt on your back.

If you have nothing with which to make payment, he will take away your bed from under you.

If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

If you have nothing with which to pay, Why should he take away your bed from under you?

If you do not have enough to pay, your bed ¹  will be taken ²  right out from under you! ³ 

¹ tn The “bed” may be a metonymy of adjunct, meaning the garment that covers the bed (e.g., Exod 22:26). At any rate, it represents the individual’s last possession (like the English expression “the shirt off his back”).

² tn Heb “If you cannot pay, why should he take the bed from under you?” This rhetorical question is used to affirm the statement. The rhetorical interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) appears in MT but not in the ancient versions; it may be in the Hebrew text by dittography.

³ sn The third saying deals with rash vows: If people foolishly pledge what they have, they could lose everything (e.g., 6:1-5; 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; there is no Egyptian parallel).