Open in the app
Mid-century illustration of a tree planted by a pool of water on a path

Proverbs 13:8 · World English Bible

Proverbs 13:8 Meaning The Ransom of a Man’s Life Is

The ransom of a man’s life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats.

Read it in the app

What does Proverbs 13:8 mean?

A mind that clings to what it owns lives under constant threat, forever paying to protect a self it has located in things that can be taken. Every possession becomes a hostage, and fear the price of keeping it.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 13:8 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

A mind that clings to what it owns lives under constant threat, forever paying to protect a self it has located in things that can be taken. Every possession becomes a hostage, and fear the price of keeping it. The mind that has claimed nothing has nothing to be extorted, and so the accusations that terrify the anxious never reach it, for there is no held thing through which they can strike.

What cannot be lost cannot be used against a mind. Release the hostage and the threat has nothing to hold.

Riches: the possessions a mind guards as its life, which become the ransom fear keeps demanding. The poor man: the mind that owns nothing it fears to lose, and so stands untouched by the threats that bind the anxious.

Christian Psychology lensGo deeper in the app

Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 13:8 today

  1. Think of the thing you most fear losing, then ask what would still be true about you the day after. Sit with the answer for a minute instead of pushing it away.
  2. Let someone borrow or use something you are protective of, and do not hover. You will find out whether you own it or it owns you.
  3. When someone dangles your status, your spot, your reputation to get what they want, answer the actual question and let the leverage sit there unused. It only works on people who are holding on.

What is someone able to pressure me with, and why am I gripping it so hard?

The same truth in other traditions

Stoicism · Epictetus

Call nothing yours that can be taken, and no one has leverage over you. Say my house rather than my self, and the threat loses its grip.

Tao Te Ching 44

The more you hoard, the more you have to lose, and the more afraid you become. Knowing when to stop keeps you out of danger.

Dhammapada

Attachment is what makes fear possible. Where there is nothing gripped, there is nothing to be frightened for.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

Free · No account needed

Read all of Proverbs 13 through 17 lenses

Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.

Get Lensightful on the App Store