Proverbs 23:22

Amplified Bible

Listen to your father, who sired you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
Listen to your father, who gave you life, and don't despise your mother when she is old.

Update Bible Version
Listen to your father that begot you, And don't despise your mother when she is old.

New Century Version
Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not forget your mother when she is old.

New English Translation
Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Webster's Bible Translation
Hearken to thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

World English Bible
Listen to your father who gave you life, And don't despise your mother when she is old.

English Standard Version
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Here thi fadir, that gendride thee; and dispise not thi modir, whanne sche is eld.

English Revised Version
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

Berean Standard Bible
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Contemporary English Version

-16-

Pay attention to your father, and don't neglect your mother when she grows old.

American Standard Version
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old.

Bible in Basic English
Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.

Complete Jewish Bible
Listen to your father, who gave you life; and don't despise your mother when she gets old.

Darby Translation
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

Easy-to-Read Version
Listen to your father. Without him, you would never have been born. Respect your mother, even when she is old.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hearken unto thy father that begot thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

King James Version (1611)
Hearken vnto thy father that begate thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

New Life Bible
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not hate your mother when she is old.

New Revised Standard
Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Obey thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother when she is olde.

George Lamsa Translation
Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Good News Translation

-16-

Listen to your father; without him you would not exist. When your mother is old, show her your appreciation.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Hearken to thy father here, who begat thee, and despise not, when she is old, thy mother.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Hearken to thy father, that begot thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.

Revised Standard Version
Hearken to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Geue eare vnto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is olde.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Hearken, my son, to thy father which begot thee, and despise not thy mother because she is grown old.

Christian Standard Bible®
Listen to your father who gave you life,and don’t despise your mother when she is old.

Hebrew Names Version
Listen to your father who gave you life, And don't despise your mother when she is old.

King James Version
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

Lexham English Bible
Listen to your father—he who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Literal Translation
Listen to your father, this one fathered you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Young's Literal Translation
Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Geue eare vnto thy father that begat the, and despyse not thy mother whan she is olde.

THE MESSAGE
16 Listen with respect to the father who raised you, and when your mother grows old, don't neglect her. Buy truth—don't sell it for love or money; buy wisdom, buy education, buy insight. Parents rejoice when their children turn out well; wise children become proud parents. So make your father happy! Make your mother proud!

New American Standard Bible
Listen to your father, who fathered you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

New King James Version
Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

Legacy Standard Bible
Listen to your father who begot you,And do not despise your mother when she is old.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way [of the LORD]. ²⁰Do not associate with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat, ²¹For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And the drowsiness [of overindulgence] will clothe one with rags. ²²Listen to your father, who sired you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.²³Buy truth, and do not sell it; Get wisdom and instruction and understanding. ²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who sires a wise child will have joy in him. ²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who gave birth to you rejoice [in your wise and godly choices]. ²⁶My son, give me your heart And let your eyes delight in my ways, ²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, And an immoral woman is a narrow well. ²⁸She lurks and lies in wait like a robber [who waits for prey], And she increases the faithless among men.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Hearken: Proverbs 1:8, Proverbs 6:20, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Deuteronomy 27:16, Mark 7:10, Ephesians 6:1, Ephesians 6:2

despise: Proverbs 30:11, Leviticus 19:3, Matthew 15:4-6, John 19:26, John 19:27

Reciprocal: Genesis 49:2 - hearken Exodus 20:12 - Honour Proverbs 15:20 - despiseth Proverbs 19:26 - wasteth Proverbs 30:17 - eye

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Hearken unto thy father that begat thee,.... And who has a true and hearty affection for thee, and whatever he says is for thy good and welfare, which he studies and has at heart; and who therefore also has an authority over thee, and what he enjoins ought to be strictly regarded; and, having lived longer in the world, must be thought to have a larger experience and knowledge of things, and therefore should be hearkened unto;

and despise not thy mother when she is old; despise not her counsels, instructions, and advice, though she is old; and because she is so, do not reject them as old wives' fables, or as the silly talk of an old woman, as young men are too apt to do.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Another continuous exhortation rather than a collection of maxims.

Proverbs 23:16

The teacher rejoices when the disciple’s heart Proverbs 23:15 receives wisdom, and yet more when his lips can utter it.

Reins - See Job 19:27 note.

Proverbs 23:17

Envy sinners - Compare in Psalms 37:1; Psalms 73:3; the feeling which looks half-longingly at the prosperity of evil doers. Some connect the verb “envy” with the second clause, “envy not sinners, but envy, emulate, the fear of the Lord.”

Proverbs 23:18

Or, For if there is an end (hereafter), thine expectations shall not be cut off. There is an implied confidence in immortality.

Proverbs 23:20

Riotous eaters of flesh - The word is the same as “glutton” in Proverbs 23:21 and Deuteronomy 21:20.

Proverbs 23:21

The three forms of evil that destroy reputation and tempt to waste are brought together.

Drowsiness - Specially the drunken sleep, heavy and confused.

Proverbs 23:26

Observe - Another reading gives, “let thine eyes delight in my ways.”

Proverbs 23:28

As for a prey - Better as in the margin.

The transgressors - Better, the treacherous,” those that attack men treacherously.

Proverbs 23:29

Woe ... sorrow - The words in the original are interjections, probably expressing distress. The sharp touch of the satirist reproduces the actual inarticulate utterances of drunkenness.

Proverbs 23:30

Mixed wine - Wine flavored with aromatic spices, that increase its stimulating properties Isaiah 5:22. There is a touch of sarcasm in “go to seek.” The word, elsewhere used of diligent search after knowledge Proverbs 25:2; Job 11:7; Psalms 139:1, is used here of the investigations of connoisseurs in wine meeting to test its qualities.

Proverbs 23:31

His color - literally, “its eye,” the clear brightness, or the beaded bubbles on which the wine drinker looks with complacency.

It moveth itself aright - The Hebrew word describes the pellucid stream flowing pleasantly from the wineskin or jug into the goblet or the throat (compare Song of Solomon 7:9), rather than a sparkling wine.

Proverbs 23:32

Adder - Said to be the Cerastes, or horned snake.

Proverbs 23:34

The passage is interesting, as showing the increased familiarity of Israelites with the experiences of sea life (compare Psalms 104:25-26; Psalms 107:23-30).

In the midst of the sea - i. e., When the ship is in the trough of the sea and the man is on the deck. The second clause varies the form of danger, the man is in the “cradle” at the top of the mast, and sleeps there, regardless of the danger.

Proverbs 23:35

The picture ends with the words of the drunkard on waking from his sleep. Unconscious of the excesses of the night, his first thought is to return to his old habit.

When shall I awake ... - Better, when I shall awake I will seek it yet again.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 23:22. Despise not thy mother when she is old. — A very necessary caution, as very old women are generally helpless, useless, and burdensome: yet these circumstances do not at all lessen the child's duty. And this duty is strengthened by the Divine command here given.