Proverbs 22:6
in Proverbs 22Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.
KJV
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
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This verse in Proverbs 22
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThus, here also it calls him a new child who was reborn through the washing of regeneration and educated and made childlike, who is made fit for the kingdom of heaven through this process in the same way. The book of Proverbs, therefore, provides training which imparts perception and understanding to the recently born child who is hungry for rational and genuine milk: a perception of present realities but an understanding of future realities.
This site's exposition
Train up a child in the way
Some read it as God's guarantee attached to faithful upbringing, and others as observed wisdom stating the ordinary tendency of things, since Scripture records exceptions. Both agree on its plain force, that the way a child is directed young shapes the way he is inclined to go.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
It is a proverb, Train up a child in the way he should go, etc. It is evident that many change from the vices they had as youths in old age, by the gift of the Lord, and conversely, some, by the Lord deserting them, …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Train up a child in the way he should go,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Train up a child in the way he should go - The Hebrew of this clause is curious: חנך לנער על פי דרכו chanoch lannaar al pi darco, “Initiate the child at the opening (the mouth) of his path.” When he comes to the opening of the way of life, being able to walk alone, and to choose; stop at this entrance, and begin a series of instructions, how he is to conduct himself in every step he takes.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Train - Initiate, and so, educate. The way he should go - Or, according to the tenor of his way, i. e., the path especially belonging to, especially fitted for, the individual’s character. The proverb enjoins the closest possible study of each child’s temperament and the adaptation of “his way of life” to that.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֲנֹ֣ךְ | chanokh | train | H2596 → | |
| לַ֭נַּעַר | lanaar | <to> the youth | H5288 → | 239 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פִּ֣י | pi | [the] mouth of | H6310 → | 498 times |
| דַרְכּ֑וֹ | darko | way his | H1870 → | 707 times |
| גַּ֥ם | gam | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יַ֝זְקִ֗ין | yazkin | he will be old | H2204 → | |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָס֥וּר | yasur | he will turn aside | H5493 → | 299 times |
| מִמֶּֽנָּה׃ | mimenah | from it | H4480 → | 1188 times |
חֲנֹ֣ךְtrain
chanokhH2596 →
לַ֭נַּעַר<to> the youth
lanaarH5288 →239 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פִּ֣י[the] mouth of
piH6310 →498 times
דַרְכּ֑וֹway his
darkoH1870 →707 times
גַּ֥םalso
gamH1571 →769 times
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יַ֝זְקִ֗יןhe will be old
yazkinH2204 →
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָס֥וּרhe will turn aside
yasurH5493 →299 times
מִמֶּֽנָּה׃from it
mimenahH4480 →1188 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
Deuteronomy 4:9Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 11:19
Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 78:3–8
that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
- Genesis 18:19
For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that…
- Deuteronomy 32:46
he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.
- Deuteronomy 6:7
Through
Ephesians 6:4Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
it leads to
- Colossians 3:21
Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged.
- Proverbs 29:15
A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
- Colossians 3:21
Through
Deuteronomy 6:7And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
it leads to
- Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 6:4
Where this verse is studied
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); Basil of Caesarea, HOMILY ON THE BEGINNING OF PROVERBS 13; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).