Two sculpted hands on linen: one pale and empty, the other darkened and filled with gold coins.

Original artwork, not a still

Sententiae

Publilius Syrus

God looks at the clean hands, not the full ones.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The saying contrasts clean hands with full hands as the basis of divine judgment. Read figuratively, cleanliness suggests integrity while fullness suggests possessions. The contrast places how a person acts above how much they hold, giving moral conduct priority over visible abundance.

Context reviewed

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