Proverbs 17:25

17:25 A foolish child is a grief ¹  to his father,

and bitterness to the mother who bore him. ² 

Proverbs 23:25

23:25 May your father and your mother have joy;

may she who bore you rejoice. ³ 

Proverbs 17:17

17:17 A friend ⁴  loves at all times,

and a relative ⁵  is born to help in adversity. ⁶ 

Proverbs 17:21

17:21 Whoever brings a fool ⁷  into the world ⁸  does so ⁹  to his grief,

and the father of a fool has no joy. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 23:22

23:22 Listen to your father who begot you,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Proverbs 23:24

23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; ¹¹ 

whoever fathers a wise child ¹²  will have joy in him.

Proverbs 27:1

27:1 Do not boast ¹³  about tomorrow; ¹⁴ 

for you do not know ¹⁵  what a day may bring forth.

[17:25]  ¹ sn The Hebrew noun means “vexation, anger, grief.”

[17:25]  ² tn Heb “to the one who bore him.” Because the participle is feminine singular in Hebrew, this has been translated as “the mother who bore him.”

[23:25]  ³ tn The form תָגֵל (tagel) is clearly a short form and therefore a jussive (“may she…rejoice”); if this second verb is a jussive, then the parallel יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) should be a jussive also (“may your father and your mother have joy”).

[17:17]  ⁵ sn The verse uses synonymous parallelism, so “friend” and “relative” are equated. Others, however, will take the verse with antithetical parallelism: W. G. Plaut argues that friendship is a spiritual relationship whereas a brother’s ties are based on a blood relationship – often adversity is the only thing that brings brothers together (Proverbs, 189).

[17:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “a brother.”

[17:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “is born for adversity.” This is not referring to sibling rivalry but to the loyalty a brother shows during times of calamity. This is not to say that a brother only shows loyalty when there is trouble, nor that he always does in these times (e.g., 18:19, 24; 19:7; 27:10). The true friend is the same as a brotherly relation – in times of greatest need the loyal love is displayed.

[17:21]  ⁷ sn Here the Hebrew terms כְּסִיל (kÿsil) and נָבָל (naval) are paired. The first one, which occurs about fifty times in the book, refers to a dullard, whether it be in spiritual, intellectual, or moral matters. The second word, rare in the book, primarily focuses on religious folly – it refers to the practical atheist, the one who lives as if there is no God.

[17:21]  ⁸ tn The form simply means “bears” or “gives birth to,” but since it is masculine it could be rendered “fathers” (cf. NASB “he who begets a fool”; NIV “To have a fool for a son”). The form for “fool” is masculine, but the proverb is not limited only to male children (cf. NCV “It is sad to have a foolish child”).

[17:21]  ⁹ tn The phrase “does so” is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:21]  ¹⁰ sn Parents of fools, who had hoped for children who would be a credit to the family, find only bitter disappointment (cf. TEV “nothing but sadness and sorrow”).

[23:24]  ⁹ tc The Qere reading has the imperfect יָגִיל (yagil) with the cognate accusative גִּיל (gil) which intensifies the meaning and the specific future of this verb.

[23:24]  ¹⁰ tn The term “child” is supplied for the masculine singular adjective here.

[27:1]  ¹¹ tn The form אַל־תִּתְהַלֵּל (’al-tithallel) is the Hitpael jussive negated; it is from the common verb “to praise,” and so in this setting means “to praise oneself” or “to boast.”

[27:1]  ¹² sn The word “tomorrow” is a metonymy of subject, meaning what will be done tomorrow, or in the future in general.

[27:1]  ¹³ sn The expression “you do not know” balances the presumption of the first line, reminding the disciple of his ignorance and therefore his need for humility (e.g., Matt 6:34; Luke 12:20; Jas 4:13-16).