Meaning & Analysis
A person who works deserves to be fairly compensated for their labor.
Insights
Justice in Compensation
The proverb affirms that fairness demands appropriate reward for effort, framing equitable pay not as generosity but as moral obligation.
Recognition of Contribution
Beyond financial payment, it implies that all sincere labor—physical or intellectual—deserves recognition and reward, promoting dignity through acknowledgment.
Labor as Moral Currency
Portrays labor as not just economic activity but moral capital; to withhold its due reward is an ethical failure against the principles of justice and reciprocity.
Sacred Value of Work
Imbued with religious resonance, the proverb elevates labor as spiritually significant, suggesting that fair treatment of workers is divinely sanctioned.
Biblical Foundation
Rooted in Luke 10:7 and repeated in 1 Timothy 5:18, the proverb carries scriptural authority, often cited to promote social justice and dignified treatment of workers across Christian traditions.
Social Ethics of Labor
Historically invoked in labor disputes, guild systems, and Reformation-era teachings, the phrase has long served as a moral anchor for labor rights and economic fairness.
Expansion Beyond Manual Labor
As early as the 16th century, the saying was extended to mental and spiritual laborers—teachers, preachers, writers—affirming a broader conception of just compensation across professions.
Resistance to Exploitation
Implicitly critiques systems that profit from underpaid or unpaid labor, urging accountability and ethical stewardship in all employer-employee relationships.
Rhetorical Devices
Biblical Diction
The formal, declarative phrasing evokes scriptural cadence, enhancing its gravitas and sense of timeless moral authority.
Isocolon
The balanced structure ('laborer' / 'worthy' / 'hire') lends rhetorical clarity and force, making it ideal for oral transmission and ethical instruction.
Moral Aphorism
The concise phrasing functions as a moral maxim—both directive and declarative—distilling complex ethical relations into a universally accessible truth.
Transcription
Quotations
The werke man that hath done his labour without murmure or grudge is worthy to haue his hyre, his rewarde.
The workman is worthy of his meate.
Digna canis pabulo . . . A Prouerbe declaring that the laborer is worthie of his hire, it is taken as well of the labour of the mind, as of the bodie.
(The spirituall Labourer).
As when our Saviour saith, the laborer is worthy of his hire.
Bible Citations
Cross References
- See DüR., I, no. 111
- St., no. 109.
- H69 Good hand (servant) good hire (wages)
- O113 Muzzle not the oxen's mouth.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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