Proverbs 3:12
in Proverbs 3for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For whom Jehovah loveth he reproveth, Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
KJV
For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
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This verse in Proverbs 3
Commentary
20 notes on this verseAnd He uses the bitter and biting language of reproof in His consolations by Solomon, tacitly alluding to the love for children that characterizes His instruction: "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;" "For a man who is a sinner escapes reproof." Consequently, therefore, the Scripture says, "Let the righteous reprove and correct me; but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head."
This site's exposition
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD
on Proverbs 3:11-12
“My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD” is quoted in Hebrews 12:5-6, where the correction is read as proof of sonship. The line “the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights” grounds discipline in love.
This site's exposition
the LORD disciplines the one He loves
Adam Clarke reads correction as proof of the LORD's love, the treatment a father gives the son he holds dearest. Deuteronomy 8:5 uses the same picture of Israel's years in the wilderness. Jesus says the same to Laodicea at Revelation 3:19.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
What here and now is the punishment of those who go astray? Some affliction perhaps, and some scourging that is for the purpose of either correcting or testing. Either, you see, people are corrected for their sins to avoid their incurring, uncorrected, severer punishments, or else their faith is being tested, to see with what endurance or what patience it remains intact under the Father's chastisement. [In either case,] not grumbling angrily at the Father when he chastises and rejoicing at his caresses; but so rejoicing at his caresses that one also thanks him for chastising; because "he chastises every son whom he receives."
"Whom the Lord loves, he chastises; and he scourges every son whom he accepts." … For, it is just that we who were dismissed from the pristine happiness of paradise because of our bold appetite for pleasures should be taken back through the humble endurance of difficulties, fugitives through our own evildoing, returning through suffering evils, there acting contrary to justice, here suffering for justice sake.
It is written, after all, "The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and scourges every son whom he receives." Let us not fall away, then, under the lash, so that we may rejoice in the resurrection. So true is it, after all, that he scourges every son whom he receives, that he did not spare his only Son but handed him over for us all. So fixing our gaze on him, who was scourged without any sin to deserve it, and who died for our offenses and "rose again for our justification," let us not be afraid of being cast aside when we are scourged, but rather [let us] be confident that we will be received when we are justified.
If we believe some blow of misfortune is struck by God, to whom would it be better that we manifest patience than to our Lord? In fact, more than this, it befits us to rejoice at being deemed worthy of divine chastisement: "As for me," he says, "those whom I love I chastise." Blessed is that servant upon whose amendment the Lord insists, at whom he deigns to be angry, whom he does not deceive by omitting his admonition!
The father schools only him whom he loves. The master rebukes only the pupil who he sees has a more zealous talent. Once the doctor stops trying to cure, he gives up hope. Your response may well be, "As Lazarus endured evils in his life, so I shall gladly endure torments now, so that glory may be stored up for me in the future; for the Lord will not punish the same sin twice." The reason why Job, a holy and spotless man, a man just in his own day, suffered so grievously, is described in his book.
12 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers7 voices
[The Lord] visits with a rod when he imposes stern punishment. In the same spirit Paul when writing to the Corinthians said, "What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod? Or in charity and in the spirit of meekness?" He also visits …
A commentator
Desert FathersThe Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks · Written before 500.
proposed
[Syncletica] also said, 'When the devil does not use the goad of poverty to tempt us, he uses wealth for the same purpose. When he cannot win by scorn and mockery, he tries praise and flattery. If he cannot win by giving health, he tries …
We must accept correction, dear friends. No one should resent it. Warnings we give each other are good and thoroughly beneficial. For they bind us to God's will. This is what the holy Word says about it: "The Lord has disciplined me severely and has not given me up to death. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and punishes every son he accepts." … Do not refuse the Almighty's warning. For he inflicts pain and then makes us all well again. He smites, but his hands heal.
If God chastises whom he loves, and chastises that he may correct, brethren also, and priests particularly, do not hate but love those whom they chastise that they may correct, since God also prophesied before through Jeremiah and pointed to our own time saying, "I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall nourish you, feeding you with discipline."
Many persons opposed to sound doctrine find fault with justice. They regard disciplinary control as haughtiness and attribute a just punishment to an overbearing nature. However, there is no haughtiness unless something unjust is ordered; and there is no overbearance except in the one who …
Not all sicknesses for whose treatment we observe medicine to be occasionally beneficial arise from natural causes, whether from faulty diet or from any other physical origin. Illness is often a punishment for sin imposed for our conversion.… Consequently, when we who belong to this class [of sinners] have recognized our transgressions, we should bear in silence and without recourse to medicine all the afflictions which come to us, in accordance with the words, "I will bear the wrath of the Lord because I have sinned against him."
What clearer evidence is there for pointing to God's grace than in the case where we receive what we ask for in prayer? For if our Lord had said, "Watch that you enter not into temptation," he would appear to have merely given an admonition to man's will, whereas when he added the words "and pray," he made it clear that it is God who helps us so that we do not fall into temptation. It is to human free will that these words have been directed: "Son, do not fall away from the correction of the Lord."
The Medieval Church1 voice
For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, etc. Therefore, we should murmur the less about the scourging with which we are corrected, the more certainly we hold in it the pledge of paternal love. Wherefore, he also says: "Those whom I love, I reprove …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth,....
Thus God hath said, As many as I love I rebuke and chasten, Rev. iii. This is a great comfort to God's children, under their afflictions, [1.] That they not only consist with, but flow from, covenant-love. [2.] That they are so far from doing them any real hurt that, by the grace of God working with them, they do a great deal of good, and are happy means of their satisfaction.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Whom the Lord loveth - To encourage thee to bear correction, know that it is a proof of God’s love to thee; and thereby he shows that he treats thee as a father does his son, even that one to whom he bears the fondest affection. The last clause the Septuagint translate μαστιγοι δε παντα υἱον ὁν παραδεχεται, “and chasteneth every son whom he receiveth;” and the apostle, Heb 12:6, quotes this literatim. Both clauses certainly amount to the same sense. Every son whom he receiveth, and the son in whom he delighteth, have very little difference of meaning.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The first distinct utterance of a truth which has been so full of comfort to many thousands; it is the summing up of all controversies (compare Joh 9:2) as to the mystery of suffering. The apostle writing to the Hebrews can find no stronger comfort Heb 12:6 than this; the Church, in her visitation service, has no truer message for the sufferer.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
as a father placates his son He desires to benefit his son and he placates him after striking him with the staff. So will the benefit be pleasant to you after the smiting.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
My son, despise not the discipline of the Lord Should pains come upon you, they should be dear to you.
Fortunate is the man who has found wisdom and a man who gives forth discernment One who learned wisdom until he is so accustomed to it that he can express it with his mouth.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֶ֥ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | [the one] whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יֶאֱהַ֣ב | yeehav | he loves | H157 → | 211 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| יוֹכִ֑יחַ | yokhiach | he reproves | H3198 → | 59 times |
| וּ֝כְאָ֗ב | ukheav | and like a father | H1 → | 1212 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בֵּ֥ן | ben | a son | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִרְצֶֽה׃ | yirtzeh | [whom] he is pleased with | H7521 → |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֶ֥ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
אֲשֶׁ֣ר[the one] whom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יֶאֱהַ֣בhe loves
yeehavH157 →211 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
יוֹכִ֑יחַhe reproves
yokhiachH3198 →59 times
וּ֝כְאָ֗בand like a father
ukheavH1 →1212 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בֵּ֥ןa son
benH1121 →4930 times
יִרְצֶֽה׃[whom] he is pleased with
yirtzehH7521 →
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
Psalms 103:13As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
it leads to
- Hebrews 12:5–11
And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Luke 11:11–12
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
- Luke 15:21–22
The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
- Hebrews 12:5–11
Through
Proverbs 13:24He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
it leads to
- Proverbs 23:13–14
Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 29:15
A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 29:17
Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will bring delight to your soul.
- Proverbs 23:13–14
Through
Revelation 3:19Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 11:32
But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 3:11–12
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;
- 1 Corinthians 11:32
Where this verse is studied
About Proverbs
This page draws on 19 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 113A.4; Augustine of Hippo, On Patience 14:11; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 157:3; Augustine of Hippo, ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 4:9; Basil of Caesarea, THE LONG RULES 55; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 88:33; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 1; Clement of Rome, 1 CLEMENT 56; Cyprian, Treatise II. On the Dress of Virgins 1; Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Jerome, LETTER 68; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, ON PATIENCE 11:4 and Valerian of Cimiez, HOMILY 1:1.