Proverbs 30:28
in Proverbs 30and the lizard can be caught in one’s hands, yet it is found in the palaces of kings.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The lizard taketh hold with her hands, Yet is she in kings’ palaces.
KJV
The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.
⋯
This verse in Proverbs 30
Commentary
7 notes on this verseI do not quote these words, however, as taking them in their literal signification, but, agreeably to the title of the book (for it is entitled "Proverbs"), I investigate them as containing a secret meaning.
This site's exposition
There be four things which are little upon the earth
on Proverbs 30:24-28
The fourth numerical saying turns from disorder to a gallery of small creatures exceeding wise: ants preparing their food without strength, conies making houses in the rocks without power, locusts marching in ranks without a king, and the spider that takes hold with her hands in king's palaces. Each creature compensates for one lack, strength, safety, leadership, or standing, with a single skill used well, and the bench reads the list as instruction by observation rather than allegory forced onto nature. The spider's presence in a king's palace closes the list on the same reversal theme running through the chapter, the small and unregarded reaching the great house by its own diligence.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
Hippolytus of RomeFragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Proverbs · Written before 235.
proposed
"The spider, that supports itself upon its hands, and is easily caught, dwells in the strongholds of kings." That is, the thief with his hands extended (on the cross), rests on the cross of Christ and dwells n Paradise, the stronghold of the three Kings-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The Medieval Church1 voice
The lizard advances with its hands, etc. The lizard advances with its hands because it does not have wings to carry it. And it dwells in the king's palaces, signifying the humility of those who, though naturally slow in intellect, by the diligence of their …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The spider taketh hold with her hands,.... On the thread she spins, or on the flies and bees she catches in her web.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Spider - Rather, the Gecko (or Stellio), a genus of the lizard tribe, many species of which haunt houses, make their way through crevices in the walls, and with feet that secrete a venomous exudation catch the spiders or the flies they find there.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
By the first (Pr 30:25-28), diligence and providence are commended; the success of these insignificant animals being due to their instinctive sagacity and activity, rather than strength. The other class (Pr 30:30, 31) provides similes for whatever is majestic or comely, uniting efficiency with gracefulness.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שְׂ֭מָמִית | semamit | a lizard | H8079 → | |
| בְּיָדַ֣יִם | beyadayim | in [two] hands | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| תְּתַפֵּ֑שׂ | tetapes | you will grasp | H8610 → | |
| וְ֝הִ֗יא | vehi' | and it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| בְּהֵ֣יכְלֵי | beheikhelei | [is] in [the] palaces of | H1964 → | |
| מֶֽלֶךְ׃ פ | melekh | a king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
שְׂ֭מָמִיתa lizard
semamitH8079 →
בְּיָדַ֣יִםin [two] hands
beyadayimH3027 →1618 times
תְּתַפֵּ֑שׂyou will grasp
tetapesH8610 →
וְ֝הִ֗יאand it
vehi'H1931 →1879 times
בְּהֵ֣יכְלֵי[is] in [the] palaces of
beheikheleiH1964 →
מֶֽלֶךְ׃ פa king
melekhH4428 →2525 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Hippolytus of Rome, Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Origen of Alexandria, AGAINST CELSUS 4:87.