Proverbs 30:17
in Proverbs 30As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The eye that mocketh at his father, And despiseth to obey his mother, The ravens of the valley shall pick it out, And the young eagles shall eat it.
KJV
The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
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This verse in Proverbs 30
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThe eye that mocketh at his father,.... At his advice, admonitions, and instructions; looks upon him with scorn and disdain, and treats him as a weak, silly, old man: here Agur returns to the first generation he had observed; and despiseth to obey his mother; her orders and commands: or, "the obedience of his mother" (s); her discipline and instruction, having no regard to it.
This site's exposition
The leech has two daughters
on Proverbs 30:15-17
"The leech has two daughters: Give and Give" opens the chapter's numerical sayings, three things never satisfied and four that never say enough. The form counts to a number and lands one past it. Verse 17 closes on the eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother.
This site's exposition
As for the eye that mocks a father
Adam Clarke and John Gill both tie the verse back to verse 11, the generation that curses its fathers. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read the eye as the whole person and the ravens as an unnatural death or an unburied body. The eye that scorned becomes food for birds.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"The eye that mocketh at his father, and dishonours the old age of his mother." That is to say, one that blasphemes God and despises the mother of Christ, the wisdom of God,-his eyes may ravens from the caves tear out, i.e., him may unclean and wicked spirits deprive of the clear eye of gladness; and may the young eagles devour him: and such shall be trodden under the feet of the saints.
The Medieval Church1 voice
The eye that mocks a father, and despises the birth of his mother, etc. The perverse, while they reproach divine judgments, mock the Father; and any heretics, while despising the preaching of the holy Church with ridicule, despise the birth of the mother, because from …
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The eye that mocketh at his father - This seems to be spoken against those who curse their father, and do not bless their mother, Pro 30:11. The ravens of the valley - Those which frequent the places where dead carcasses and offal are most likely to be found. The raven, the crow, the rook, the daw, the carrion crow, and the Cornish chough, appear to be all of the same genus. Some of them live on pulse and insects; others, the raven in particular, live on carrion.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The eye--for the person, with reference to the use of the organ to express mockery and contempt, and also as that by which punishment is received. the ravens . . . eagles . . . eat--either as dying unnaturally, or being left unburied, or both.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַ֤יִן׀ | ʾayin | an eye | H5869 → | 887 times |
| תִּֽלְעַ֣ג | tilag | [which] it mocks | H3932 → | 18 times |
| לְאָב֮ | leav | <to> a father | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וְתָב֪וּז | vetavuz | so it may despise | H936 → | 12 times |
| לִֽיקֲּהַ֫ת־ | likahat- | <to> obedience of | H3349 → | |
| אֵ֥ם | ʾem | a mother | H517 → | 220 times |
| יִקְּר֥וּהָ | yikeruha | they will pluck out it | H5365 → | |
| עֹרְבֵי־ | ʾorevei- | [the] ravens of | H6158 → | |
| נַ֑חַל | nachal | [the] wadi | H5158 → | |
| וְֽיֹאכְל֥וּהָ | veyokheluha | and they will eat it | H398 → | 810 times |
| בְנֵי־ | venei- | [the] young of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| נָֽשֶׁר׃ פ | nasher | an eagle | H5404 → | 26 times |
עַ֤יִן׀an eye
ʾayinH5869 →887 times
תִּֽלְעַ֣ג[which] it mocks
tilagH3932 →18 times
לְאָב֮<to> a father
leavH1 →1212 times
וְתָב֪וּזso it may despise
vetavuzH936 →12 times
לִֽיקֲּהַ֫ת־<to> obedience of
likahat-H3349 →
אֵ֥םa mother
ʾemH517 →220 times
יִקְּר֥וּהָthey will pluck out it
yikeruhaH5365 →
עֹרְבֵי־[the] ravens of
ʾorevei-H6158 →
נַ֑חַל[the] wadi
nachalH5158 →
וְֽיֹאכְל֥וּהָand they will eat it
veyokheluhaH398 →810 times
בְנֵי־[the] young of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
נָֽשֶׁר׃ פan eagle
nasherH5404 →26 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 20:9If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:16
‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 21:17
Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Mark 7:10
For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- Matthew 15:4
For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- Deuteronomy 27:16
Through
Proverbs 30:11There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:20
Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 20:20
Through
Proverbs 23:22Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
it leads to
- Proverbs 1:8
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
- John 19:26–27
When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.”
- Ephesians 6:1–2
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
- Proverbs 1:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).