A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
A poor man ( geber (H1397 ): a tyrant, a man of might) that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain, which leaveth no food. Needy himself, he sweeps away the little food left to the poor by richer oppressors. There are no such hard tyrants as poor ones when they get an opportunity of enriching themselves at the expense of those poorer than themselves. A sponge that is dry sucks strongly; that which is well soaked ceases to suck. So the rich are more merciful than poor oppressors. Rain ought to fertilize the soil; but a sweeping rain carries away, or else causes the seed to rot. The poor, when elevated, ought to compassionate and relieve those whose misery they know by experience. When they do not so, they are the most merciless of oppressors.