Genesis 42:38

42:38 But Jacob ¹  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ²  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ³  in sorrow to the grave.” ⁴ 

Genesis 44:29

44:29 If you take ⁵  this one from me too and an accident happens to him, then you will bring down my gray hair ⁶  in tragedy ⁷  to the grave.’ ⁸ 

Genesis 44:31

44:31 When he sees the boy is not with us, ⁹  he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.

Leviticus 19:32

19:32 You must stand up in the presence of the aged, honor the presence of an elder, and fear your God. I am the Lord.

Job 15:10

15:10 The gray-haired ¹⁰  and the aged are on our side, ¹¹ 

men far older than your father. ¹² 

Psalms 71:18

71:18 Even when I am old and gray, ¹³ 

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength,

and those coming after me about your power. ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 16:31

16:31 Gray hair is like ¹⁵  a crown of glory; ¹⁶ 

it is attained ¹⁷  in the path of righteousness. ¹⁸ 

Proverbs 20:29

20:29 The glory ¹⁹  of young men is their strength,

and the splendor ²⁰  of old men is gray hair. ²¹ 

Isaiah 46:4

46:4 Even when you are old, I will take care of you, ²² 

even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.

I made you and I will support you;

I will carry you and rescue you. ²³ 

Jeremiah 1:11

Visions Confirming Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

1:11 Later the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

[42:38]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:38]  ² sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

[42:38]  ³ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

[42:38]  ⁴ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.

[44:29]  ⁵ tn The construction uses a perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive to introduce the conditional clause and then another perfect verbal form with a vav consecutive to complete the sentence: “if you take…then you will bring down.”

[44:29]  ⁶ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble. See Gen 42:38.

[44:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “evil/calamity.” The term is different than the one used in the otherwise identical statement recorded in v. 31 (see also 42:38).

[44:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.

[44:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “when he sees that there is no boy.”

[15:10]  ¹⁰ tn The participle שָׂב (sav), from שִׂיב (siv, “to have white hair”; 1 Sam 12:2), only occurs elsewhere in the Bible in the Aramaic sections of Ezra. The word יָשִׁישׁ (yashish, “aged”) occurred in 12:12.

[15:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with us.”

[15:10]  ¹² tn The line reads: “[men] greater than your father [in] days.” The expression “in days” underscores their age – they were older than Job’s father, and therefore wiser.

[71:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”

[71:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.

[16:31]  ¹⁵ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[16:31]  ¹⁶ sn The proverb presents the ideal, for it is not concerned with old people who may be evil. The KJV tried to qualify the interpretation by making the second half of the verse a conditional clause (“if it be found in the way of righteousness”). This is acceptable but unnecessary. The book of Proverbs is simply laying out the equity of longevity for righteousness and premature death for wicked people. In this line “gray hair” is a metonymy of adjunct/effect, representing old age; and the “glorious crown” (taking the genitive as attributive) provides a fitting metaphor to compare the hair on the head with a crown.

[16:31]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “it is found” (so NASB) or “it will be found.”

[16:31]  ¹⁸ sn While the proverb presents a general observation, there is a commendable lesson about old people who can look back on a long walk with God through life and can anticipate unbroken fellowship with him in glory.

[20:29]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term תִּפְאֶרֶת (tif’eret) means “beauty; glory”; in a context like this it means “honor” in the sense of glorying or boasting (BDB 802 s.v. 3.b).

[20:29]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term הֲדַר (hadar), the noun in construct, means “splendor; honor; ornament.” The latter sense is used here, since grey hair is like a crown on the head.

[20:29]  ²¹ sn “Grey hair” is a metonymy of adjunct; it represents everything valuable about old age – dignity, wisdom, honor, experience, as well as worry and suffering of life. At the very least, since they survived, they must know something. At the most, they were the sages and elders of the people.

[46:4]  ²² tn Heb “until old age, I am he” (NRSV similar); NLT “I will be your God throughout your lifetime.”

[46:4]  ²³ sn Unlike the weary idol gods, whose images must be carried by animals, the Lord carries his weary people.