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JPS Old Testament
Proverbs 31:1
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
The words of King Lemuel,
The words of king Lemo'el; the oracle which his mother taught him.
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
The words of King Lemuel, the pronouncement which his mother taught him:
These are the words of King Lemuel, the message his mother taught him:
The words of King Lemuel, the oracle, which his mother taught him:
The words of king Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.
The vvords of king Lemuel: The prophecie which his mother taught him.
The words of King Lemuel, the oracle unto which his mother disciplined him:
The words of King Lemuel-an oracle that his mother taught him:
These are the sayings that King Lemuel of Massa was taught by his mother.
The words of King L'mu'el, the prophecy with which his mother disciplined him:
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him:
These are the wise sayings that King Lemuel's mother taught him:
THE words of Moael, a king and prophet, which his mother taught him, saying,
These are the solemn words which King Lemuel's mother said to him:
The words of Lemuel, the king—an oracle that his mother taught him:
The words of King Lemuel, the burden that his mother taught him:
These are the wordes of Kynge Lamuel, & ye lesson yt his mother taught him.
The words of king Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.
The words of Lemuel, king of Massa: the teaching which he had from his mother.
The wordes of King Lemuel, the prophecie that his mother taught him.
THE wordes of king Lamuel, and the lesson that his mother taught him.
A reprover is better than a stiff-necked man: for when the latter is suddenly set on fire, there shall be no remedy.
The words of king Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.
The wordis of Lamuel, the king; the visioun bi which his modir tauyte hym.
The words of king Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
The words of King Lemuel, an oracle that his mother taught him:
The words of King Lemuel, the utterance which his mother taught him:
The sayings of King Lemuel contain this message, which his mother taught him.
The words of Lemuel king of Massa, which his mother taught him:
The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
The words of Lemuel the king, - the strain which was taught him by his mother: -
The words of king Lamuel. The vision wherewith his mother instructed him.
The words of Lemuel, king of Massa, which his mother taught him:
Words of Lemuel a king, a declaration that his mother taught him:
The words of King Lemuel, the strong advice his mother gave him:
The words of King Lemuel, the oracle which his mother taught him:
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
the prophecy: Proverbs 30:1
his: Proverbs 1:8, Proverbs 6:20, 2 Timothy 1:5, 2 Timothy 3:15
Reciprocal: Proverbs 31:28 - children 1 Thessalonians 2:11 - as
Cross-References
And the LORD said unto Jacob: 'Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.'
And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,
and said unto them: 'I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the God of my father hath been with me.
If he said thus: The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said thus: The streaked shall be thy wages; then bore all the flock streaked.
Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.
For all the riches which God hath taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.'
Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels;
And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night, and said unto him: 'Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.'
And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain; and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountain of Gilead.
And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall hasten and bring down my father hither.'
Gill's Notes on the Bible
The words of King Lemuel,.... Not what were spoken by him, but what were spoken to him; or declaring what his mother said, as what follows shows; of this king we have no account elsewhere under this name. Grotius thinks that King Hezekiah, whose mother Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah, whom he supposes to be a wise man, from whom she had learned much, instructed her son in the following manner; but gives no other reason for this conjecture but that this chapter follows the collection of proverbs made by the men of Hezekiah; but they are expressly said to be Solomon's, and the words of Agur more immediately follow them; and besides Hezekiah does not appear ever to be addicted to the vices this prince was; much more probable is the conjecture of Bishop Patrick, that he was a prince of another country, perhaps in Chaldea, since a Chaldee word is three times used in his mother's address to him, and another word in a Chaldee termination; and he supposes his mother to be a Jewish lady, that taught her son the lessons herein contained. But the general sense of Jewish and Christian writers is, that Solomon himself is meant; whose name Lemuel is either a corruption of his name Solomon, a fond pretty name his mother Bathsheba gave him when young, and he thought fit to write it just as his mother spoke it; as mothers often do give such broken names to their children in fond affection to them: or it was another name of his, as it appears he had more than one; it signifies "to God", one that was devoted to him, as he was by his parents and by himself; or one that belonged to God, was his, as Solomon was; he was beloved of God, and therefore called Jedidiah, 2 Samuel 12:24; one to whom God was a father, and he a son to him; and he was chosen and appointed by him to succeed his father David in the kingdom, 2 Samuel 7:13. Hillerus a makes the word to signify "over against God", or "before the face of the first", or of God and was a type of the "angel of faces", or of God's presence, Isaiah 63:9;
the prophecy that his mother taught him; either in his youth, or when he was come to the throne; to whom she had access, and with whom she used freedom; and particularly when she saw he was inclined unto, or going into, the vices she cautions him against. Her instruction is called a "prophecy", because she delivered it on a foresight of the sins her son would be tempted with, and liable to fall into; and this foresight was either through her natural sagacity, or under a spirit of prophecy; or rather it is so called, because any wise saying, or doctrine of moment and importance, and especially if it was by divine inspiration, was so called; see Proverbs 30:1; as Solomon tells us what his father David taught him, so here what his mother Bathsheba instructed him in; and it would have been well if he had taken the advice she gave him, and he gave to his son; see Proverbs 4:3.
a Onomastic. Sacr. p. 268.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
That his mother taught him - Compare Proverbs 1:8; Proverbs 6:20. If we refer the chapter to Israelite authorship, we may remember the honor paid to the wisdom of Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah; if it was the honor paid to an Edomite or an Arabian, we may think of the Queen of Sheba, whose love of Wisdom led her to sit at the feet of the son of David.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXXI
The words and prophecy of King Lemuel, and what his mother
taught him, 1, 2.
Debauchery and much wine to be avoided, 3-7.
How kings should administer justice, 8, 9.
The praise of a virtuous woman and good housewife, in her
economy, prudence, watchfulness, and assiduity in labour,
10-29.
Frailty of beauty, 30, 31.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI
Verse Proverbs 31:1. The words of King Lemuel — דברי למואל מכך dibrey lemuel melech, "The words to Muel the king." So the Syriac; and so I think it should be read, the lamed being the article or preposition.
But who is Muel or Lemuel? Solomon, according to general opinion; and the mother here mentioned, Bath-sheba. I cannot receive these sayings; for
1. Whoever this was, he appears to have been the first-born of his mother: called here emphatically בר בטני bar bitni, the son of my womb; which is not likely to be true of Solomon, as his mother had been the wife of Uriah, and possibly had borne that rough and faithful soldier some children.
2. It is intimated here that this son had come by a lawful marriage: hence בר נדרי bar nedarai, the son of my vow, her matrimonial covenant; for so it is most natural to understand the words. But is there any proper sense in which we can say that this was correct in reference to David, Bath-sheba, and Solomon? For although the son born in adultery died, it is by no means likely that Bath-sheba made any particular vows relative to Solomon; for of her piety, so much vaunted of by some writers, we yet want the proofs.
But, however this may be, there is no evidence whatever that Muel or Lemuel means Solomon; the chapter seems, to be much later than his time, and the several Chaldaisms which occur in the very opening of it are no mean proof of this. If Agur was not the author of it, it may be considered as another supplement to the book of Proverbs. Most certainly Solomon did not write it.
The prophecy that his mother taught him. — משא massa may here signify the oracle; the subject that came by Divine inspiration; see on Proverbs 30:1. From this and some other circumstances it is probable that both these chapters were written by the same author. Houbigant thinks that Massa here is the name of a place; and, therefore, translates, "The words of Lemuel, king of Massa, with which his mother instructed him."
