He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

PROVERBS 11:26KJV
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Proverbs 11:26 (KJV)

What does Proverbs 11:26 mean?

Proverbs 11:26 contrasts how a community responds to two choices about a needed food supply. A person who holds grain back draws the people’s curse, while a person who sells grain receives their blessing.

The proverb pictures grain as something people depend on for food. The words “upon the head” picture the blessing resting on the seller, marking that person as the one receiving the people’s good wishes.

The Hebrew behind Proverbs 11:26

  • “corn” — בַּר (bar): This means grain. In the KJV, “corn” can mean grain generally, rather than the crop now commonly called corn in American English.
  • “withholdeth” — מָנַע (manaʿ): This means to hold back or keep from someone. Here the word describes keeping grain out of reach when people want to obtain it.
  • “curse” — נָקַב (naqav): In this setting, the word carries the sense of cursing or denouncing someone. The people’s response is expressed openly against the person who holds back the grain.

Why Proverbs 11:26 matters

  • The proverb speaks about selling, not simply giving grain away. Its favorable response falls on “him that selleth it,” placing an ordinary exchange alongside the community’s need for food.
  • The contrast concerns public responses to a person’s conduct. “The people” pronounce the curse, while the blessing rests on the seller’s head.
  • The surrounding sayings also consider the results of being openhanded. Verse 25 speaks of a generous person prospering; verse 26 brings that concern into the concrete setting of a grain supply.

Where else these words appear

“corn” Hebrew H1250 · used in 14 verses

  • Genesis 41:35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
  • Genesis 45:23 And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.
  • Jeremiah 23:28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.

“selleth” Hebrew H7666 · used in 20 verses

  • Genesis 41:56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
  • Genesis 42:7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
  • Genesis 44:25 And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food.

“curse” Hebrew H5344 · used in 24 verses

  • Genesis 30:28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
  • 2 Kings 18:21 Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
  • Job 40:24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.

“withholdeth” Hebrew H4513 · used in 29 verses

  • Genesis 30:2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
  • Job 22:7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
  • Ecclesiastes 2:10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.