Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Here Solomon passes from general recommendations of wisdom to particular precepts of it. He reverts to instances of "mercy and truth," which he had recommended in Proverbs 3:3. "From them to whom it is due" - literally, 'from the owners thereof' (cf. Proverbs 17:8). On "in the power of thine hand" cf. Micah 2:1. He who is in need has a claim of ownership upon our property by the law of love, which is the law of God. The goods which we can and ought to bestow are not ours, but the property of the poor (cf. Romans 13:8, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another"). Need makes the poor the owner, and God makes thee the dispenser of the goods which thou hast, and which he needs: so such benefits are called "righteousness" - i:e., a righteous debt or obligation (2 Corinthians 9:9; Matthew 6:1, "alms;" Greek, 'righteousness'). (Junius.) The same principle applies in the case of the spiritual knowledge which thou hast, and thy neighbour has not, and which therefore he has a claim upon thee for the supply of. None is bound 'beyond his power;' yet when he has strained his charity to the verge of, and even beyond, his ability. God especially praises it (2 Corinthians 8:3; 2 Corinthians 8:12; Mark 12:43-44).