Proverbs 11:24

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and (there is) that withholdeth more than is meet, but (it tendeth) to poverty. So far from the generous disperser of his riches, for the glory of God and the good of his neighbour, being really impoverished by scattering, he positively "increaseth" in true wealth by it. The metaphor is from sowing seed. He who would reap largely must scatter the seed far and wide, with no grudging hand (). They who "withhold more than is meet" from the Lord, get no true gain from all their toils and all their riches, like the Jews in Haggai's time, who had no prosperity until they made the house of the Lord their chief object (; Haggai 1:9; Haggai 2:15; cf. ). So far is the true wealth of the withholder from being increased by withholding what is meet to be given for the glory of God and the good of man, that he is at last deprived even of that which he had (). The Lord has a thousand ways of taking away from the selfish steward of God's property the wealth which he uses not for God's glory, namely, sickness, fire, death certainly.