Proverbs 29:17

29:17 Discipline your child, and he will give you rest; ¹ 

he will bring you ²  happiness. ³ 

Deuteronomy 8:5

8:5 Be keenly aware that just as a parent disciplines his child, ⁴  the Lord your God disciplines you.

Psalms 103:13

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ⁵ 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ⁶ 

¹ tn The verb, a Hiphil imperfect with a suffix, could be subordinated to the preceding imperative to form a purpose clause (indirect volitive classification): “that he may give you rest.” The same then could apply to the second part of the verse.

² tn Heb “your soul.” The noun נַפְשֶׁךָ (nafshekha, “your soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= inner soul) for the whole person (= you); see, e.g., Isa 43:4; 51:23; BDB 600 s.v. 4.a.2.

³ sn The parallelism of this verse is synthetic; the second half adds the idea of “delight/pleasure” to that of “rest.” So a disciplined child will both relieve anxiety (“give…rest”) and bring happiness to the parents.

⁴ tn Heb “just as a man disciplines his son.” The Hebrew text reflects the patriarchal idiom of the culture.

⁵ tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

⁶ tn Heb “those who fear him.”