Proverbs 6 · a question people ask
"Men don’t despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry" (6:30). Is the chapter excusing theft?
The verse says how people treat such a thief, and the next says what still happens to him: "but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house" (6:31). The two verses stand between "Whoever touches her will not be unpunished" (6:29) and "He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding" (6:32), and the father sets the two wrongs side by side. The thief pays back, even if it takes all he has (6:31). Of the man who takes his neighbor's wife the chapter says, "His reproach will not be wiped away" (6:33), and of the husband, "He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts" (6:35) (tap ransom). The chapter gives no ruling on hunger or theft beyond these two verses. Elsewhere Proverbs has a prayer not to be made poor, "lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:9), in the prayer of Proverbs 30:7-9.
The verses
““Two things I have asked of you. Don’t deny me before I die. Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”