The one who is gracious ¹  to the poor lends ²  to the Lord, and the Lord ³  will repay him ⁴  for his good deed. ⁵ 

biblegateway Pro 19:17

One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.

Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will give a reward to the lender.

Whoever has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his good deed.

biblegateway Pro 19:17

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.

bibleoremus Pro 19:17

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and will be repaid in full.

He who is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, who will recompense him for his deed.

biblegateway Pro 19:17

He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

biblegateway Pro 19:17

The one who is gracious ¹  to the poor lends ²  to the Lord, and the Lord ³  will repay him ⁴  for his good deed. ⁵ 

¹ sn The participle חוֹנֵן (khonen, “shows favor to”) is related to the word for “grace.” The activity here is the kind favor shown poor people for no particular reason and with no hope of repayment. It is literally an act of grace.

² tn The form מַלְוֵה (malveh) is the Hiphil participle from לָוָה (lavah) in construct; it means “to cause to borrow; to lend.” The expression here is “lender of the Lord.” The person who helps the poor becomes the creditor of God.

³ tn Heb “he.” The referent of the 3rd person masculine singular pronoun is “the Lord” in the preceding line, which has been supplied here in the translation for clarity.

⁴ sn The promise of reward does not necessarily mean that the person who gives to the poor will get money back; the rewards in the book of Proverbs involve life and prosperity in general.

⁵ tn Heb “and his good deed will repay him.” The word גְּמֻלוֹ (gÿmulo) could be (1) the subject or (2) part of a double accusative of the verb. Understanding it as part of the double accusative makes better sense, for then the subject of the verb is God. How “his deed” could repay him is not immediately obvious.