Proverbs 30:22

Easy-to-Read Version

a slave who becomes a king, fools who have everything they need,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
a servant when he becomes king,a fool when he is stuffed with food,

Hebrew Names Version
For a servant when he is king; A fool when he is filled with food;

King James Version
For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;

English Standard Version
a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;

New American Standard Bible
Under a slave when he becomes king, And a fool when he is satisfied with food,

New Century Version
a servant who becomes a king, a foolish person who has plenty to eat,

Amplified Bible
Under a servant when he reigns, Under a [spiritually blind] fool when he is filled with food,

World English Bible
For a servant when he is king; A fool when he is filled with food;

Geneva Bible (1587)
For a seruant when he reigneth, & a foole when he is filled with meate,

Legacy Standard Bible
Under a slave when he becomes king,And a wicked fool when he is satisfied with food,

Berean Standard Bible
a servant who becomes king, a fool who is filled with food,

Contemporary English Version
A slave who becomes king, a fool who eats too much,

Complete Jewish Bible
a slave who becomes king, a boor gorged with food,

Darby Translation
Under a servant when he reigneth, and a churl when he is filled with meat;

George Lamsa Translation
Under a servant when he reigns: and under a fool when he is filled with bread;

Good News Translation
a slave who becomes a king, a fool who has all he wants to eat,

Lexham English Bible
under a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is satisfied with food;

Literal Translation
Under a servant when he reigns, and a fool when he is filled with food,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thorow a seruaut yt beareth rule, thorow a foole yt hath greate riches,

American Standard Version
For a servant when he is king; And a fool when he is filled with food;

Bible in Basic English
A servant when he becomes a king; a man without sense when his wealth is increased;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For a servant when he reigneth; and a churl when he is filled with food;

King James Version (1611)
For a seruant when he reigneth, and a foole when hee is filled with meate:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
A seruaunt that beareth rule, a foole that is full fedde,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
An envious man makes haste to be rich, and knows not that the merciful man will have the mastery over him.

English Revised Version
For a servant when he is king; and a fool when he is filled with meat;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
bi a seruaunt, whanne he regneth; bi a fool, whanne he is fillid with mete;

Update Bible Version
For a slave when he is king; And a fool when he is filled with food;

Webster's Bible Translation
For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with food.

New English Translation
under a servant who becomes king, under a fool who is stuffed with food,

New King James Version
For a servant when he reigns, A fool when he is filled with food,

New Living Translation
a slave who becomes a king, an overbearing fool who prospers,

New Life Bible
Under a servant when he becomes king, under a fool when he is filled with food,

New Revised Standard
a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when glutted with food;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Under a servant, when he reigneth, and a base man, when he is surfeited with food;

Douay-Rheims Bible
By a slave when he reigneth: by a fool when be is filled with meat:

Revised Standard Version
a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;

Young's Literal Translation
For a servant when he reigneth, And a fool when he is satisfied with bread,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Under a slave when he becomes king, And a fool when he is satisfied with food,

Contextual Overview

¹⁸ There are three things that are hard for me to understand—really, four things that I don't understand: ¹⁹ an eagle flying in the sky, a snake moving on a rock, a ship moving across the ocean, and a man in love with a woman. ²⁰ A woman who is not faithful to her husband acts innocent. She eats, wipes her mouth, and says she has done nothing wrong. ²¹ There are three things that make trouble on the earth—really, four that the earth cannot bear: ²² a slave who becomes a king, fools who have everything they need, ²³ a woman whose husband hated her but still married her, and a servant girl who becomes ruler over the woman she serves.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a servant: Proverbs 19:10, Proverbs 28:3, Ecclesiastes 10:7, Isaiah 3:4, Isaiah 3:5

a fool: 1 Samuel 25:3, 1 Samuel 25:10, 1 Samuel 25:11, 1 Samuel 25:25, 1 Samuel 25:36-38, 1 Samuel 30:16

Reciprocal: Nehemiah 2:10 - the servant Proverbs 26:8 - so Proverbs 29:19 - servant Lamentations 5:8 - Servants

Cross-References

Genesis 8:1
But God did not forget about Noah. God remembered him and all the animals that were with him in the boat. God made a wind blow over the earth, and all the water began to disappear.

Genesis 25:21
Isaac's wife could not have children. So Isaac prayed to the Lord for her. The Lord heard Isaac's prayer, and he allowed Rebekah to become pregnant.

Genesis 30:1
Rachel saw that she was not giving Jacob any children. She became jealous of her sister Leah. So Rachel said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I will die!"

Genesis 30:2
Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, "I am not God. He is the one who has caused you to not have children."

Genesis 30:19
Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son.

Genesis 30:20
She said, "God has given me a fine gift. Now surely Jacob will accept me, because I have given him six sons." So she named this son Zebulun.

Psalms 105:42
The Lord remembered his holy promise that he had made to his servant Abraham.

Psalms 113:9
He gives children to the woman whose home is empty. He makes her a happy mother. Praise the Lord !

Psalms 127:3
Children are a gift from the Lord , a reward from a mother's womb.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For a servant, when he reigneth,.... Being unfit for it through his education, not having been trained up in and learned the arts of government and maxims of it; and through the disposition of his mind, which is mean, abject, and servile; and as he has been used himself when a servant, so he will use others c and through his circumstances, being poor, he will take oppressive methods to become rich; and being raised from a low estate, he is the more imperious, proud, and haughty d; all which and more make his reign intolerable; see Proverbs 19:10. This may be applied to antichrist, the "servus servorum", who in a haughty, tyrannical, and insolent manner, exalts himself above all that is called God: and reigns over the kings of the earth, at least has done so, and that in such a manner as was unbearable; deposing kings at pleasure, disposing of their kingdoms, and trampling upon their necks, and making their subjects his vassals; see 2 Thessalonians 2:4;

and a fool, when he is filled with meat; as Nabal at his feast, when he behaved so intolerably in his cups towards David and his messengers, that he determined on his destruction, had not Abigail interposed,

1 Samuel 25:10; and there are many such fools, who having their bellies full of food, and their heads full of liquor, are very overbearing in company, and give their tongues such a loose as is very disturbing: or this may intend such fools, or wicked men, who are full of wealth and riches, and being purse proud, are exceeding haughty and insolent; set their mouths against the heaven, and blaspheme God that is in it; and their tongues walk through the earth, and spare none, but lash all in an insufferable manner. These disquiet families, neighbourhoods, communities, and commonwealths; see Psalms 73:7.

c "Nec bellua tetrior ulla est, quam servi rabies in libera colla furentis", Claudian. in Eutrop. l. 1. v. 183, 184. d "Asperius nihil est humili, cum surgit in altum", Claudian. ib. v. 181.