Proverbs 30:17
English Standard Version
17 The eye that (A)mocks a father
and (B)scorns to obey a mother
will (C)be picked out by (D)the ravens of the valley
and eaten by the vultures.
Proverbs 30:17
New English Translation
17 The eye[a] that mocks at a father
and despises obeying[b] a mother—
the ravens of the valley will peck it out
and the young vultures will eat it.[c]
Footnotes
- Proverbs 30:17 sn The “eye” as the organ that exhibits the inner feelings most clearly, here represents a look of scorn or disdain that speaks volumes (a metonymy of cause or of adjunct). It is comparable to the “evil eye” which is stinginess (28:22).
- Proverbs 30:17 tn The Hebrew word לִיקֲּהַת (liqqahat, “obeying”) occurs only here and in Gen 49:10; it seems to mean “to receive” in the sense of “receiving instruction” or “obeying.” C. H. Toy suggests emending to “to old age” (לְזִקְנַת, leziqnat) of the mother (Proverbs [ICC], 530). The LXX with γῆρας (gēras, “old age”) suggests that a root lhq had something to do with “white hair.” D. W. Thomas suggests emending from lhyqt to lyqht; it would have read, “The eye that mocks a father and despises an aged mother” (“A Note on לִיקֲּהַת in Proverbs 30:17, ” JTS 42 [1941]: 154-55); this is followed by NAB “or scorns an aged mother.”
- Proverbs 30:17 sn The sternest punishment is for the evil eye. The punishment is talionic—eye for eye. The reference to “the valley” may indicate a place where people are not be given decent burials and the birds of prey pick the corpses clean. It is an image the prophets use in judgment passages.
Proverbs 30:17
New International Version
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