Proverbs 23:22-25
New English Translation
22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Acquire[a] truth and do not sell it—
wisdom, and discipline, and understanding.
24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly;[b]
whoever fathers a wise child[c] will have joy in him.
25 May your father and your mother have joy;
may she who bore you rejoice.[d]
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:23 tn Heb “buy” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT); CEV “Invest in truth.”sn The sixteenth saying is an instruction to buy/acquire the kind of life that pleases God and brings joy to parents. “Getting truth” would mean getting training in the truth, and getting wisdom and understanding would mean developing the perception and practical knowledge of the truth.
- Proverbs 23:24 tc The Qere reading has the imperfect יָגִיל (yagil) with the cognate accusative גִּיל (gil) which intensifies the meaning and the specific future of this verb.
- Proverbs 23:24 tn The term “child” is supplied for the masculine singular adjective here.
- Proverbs 23:25 tn The form תָגֵל (tagel) is clearly a short form and therefore a jussive (“may she…rejoice”); if this second verb is a jussive, then the parallel יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) should be a jussive also (“may your father and your mother have joy”).
Proverbs 23:22-25
New Living Translation
22 Listen to your father, who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
23 Get the truth and never sell it;
also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.
24 The father of godly children has cause for joy.
What a pleasure to have children who are wise.[a]
25 So give your father and mother joy!
May she who gave you birth be happy.
Footnotes
- 23:24 Hebrew to have a wise son.
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