Proverbs 16:31
in Proverbs 16Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The hoary head is a crown of glory; It shall be found in the way of righteousness.
KJV
The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
⋯
This verse in Proverbs 16
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Omit “if.” Literally, “it (i. e., the hoary head) is found in the way of righteousness,” comes as the reward of righteousness.
This site's exposition
Gray hair is a crown of glory
The hoary head is a crown of glory, but the verse qualifies its own praise: if it be found in the way of righteousness. Age by itself earns nothing in the book's own accounting. Henry reads the verse as a correction to any culture that honours old age automatically.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The hoary head is a crown of glory,....
It is a victory that does nobody any harm; no lives or treasures are sacrificed to it, but only some base lusts. It is harder, and therefore more glorious, to quash an insurrection at home than to resist an invasion from a broad; nay, such are the gains of meekness that by it we are more than conquerors.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The hoary head is a crown of glory - The latter part of the verse is very well added, for many a sinner has a hoary head.
Modern Voices1 voice
Lastly, there is this value about the colour that men call colourless; that it suggests in some way the mixed and troubled average of existence, especially in its quality of strife and expectation and promise. Grey is a colour that always seems on the eve …
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֲטֶ֣רֶת | ʾateret | [is] a crown of | H5850 → | 23 times |
| תִּפְאֶ֣רֶת | tiferet | splendor | H8597 → | 51 times |
| שֵׂיבָ֑ה | seivah | gray hair | H7872 → | |
| בְּדֶ֥רֶךְ | bederekh | in [the] way of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| צְ֝דָקָ֗ה | tzedakah | righteousness | H6666 → | 157 times |
| תִּמָּצֵֽא׃ | timatze' | it is found | H4672 → | 455 times |
עֲטֶ֣רֶת[is] a crown of
ʾateretH5850 →23 times
תִּפְאֶ֣רֶתsplendor
tiferetH8597 →51 times
שֵׂיבָ֑הgray hair
seivahH7872 →
בְּדֶ֥רֶךְin [the] way of
bederekhH1870 →707 times
צְ֝דָקָ֗הrighteousness
tzedakahH6666 →157 times
תִּמָּצֵֽא׃it is found
timatze'H4672 →455 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
Proverbs 20:29The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old.
it leads to
- 1 John 2:14
I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,…
- Leviticus 19:32
You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.
- 1 John 2:14
Through
Leviticus 19:32You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 5:1
Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as to a father. Treat younger men as brothers,
- Lamentations 5:12
Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
- Proverbs 20:29
The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old.
- Job 32:4
Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because the others were older than he.
- Job 32:6
So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite declared: “I am young in years, while you are old; that is why I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know.
- 1 Timothy 5:1
Through
Proverbs 17:6Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father.
it leads to
- Psalms 127:3–5
Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
- Psalms 127:3–5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies11
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); GK Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions, The Glory of Grey; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.