Proverbs 28:6

A poor person ¹  who walks in his integrity is better than one who is perverse in his ways ²  even though ³  he is rich. ⁴ 

Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse.

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than he who is crooked though he be rich.

It is better to be poor and honest than rich and crooked.

It's better to be poor and direct than rich and crooked.

Better is the poor man whose ways are upright, than the man of wealth whose ways are not straight.

Better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be crooked in one’s ways even though rich.

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

A poor person ¹  who walks in his integrity is better than one who is perverse in his ways ²  even though ³  he is rich. ⁴ 

¹ sn This chapter gives a lot of attention to the contrast between the poor and the rich, assuming an integrity for the poor that is not present with the rich; the subject is addressed in vv. 6, 8, 11, 20, 22, 25, and 27 (G. A. Chutter, “Riches and Poverty in the Book of Proverbs,” Crux 18 [1982]: 23-28).

² tn The Hebrew term translated “ways” is in the dual, suggesting that the person has double ways, i.e., he is hypocritical. C. H. Toy does not like this idea and changes the form to the plural (Proverbs [ICC], 497), but his emendation is gratuitous and should be rejected.

³ tn Heb “and he is rich.” Many English versions treat this as a concessive clause (cf. KJV “though he be rich”).

⁴ sn This is another “better” saying, contrasting a poor person who has integrity with a rich person who is perverse. Of course there are rich people with integrity and perverse poor people, but that is not of interest here. If it came to the choices described here, honest poverty is better than corrupt wealth.