He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who robs his father and drives away his mother, is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.
- BSB He who assaults his father or evicts his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace.
- NKJV He who mistreats his father and chases away his mother Is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.
- NASB He who assaults his father and drives his mother away Is a shameful and disgraceful son.
- NLT Children who mistreat their father or chase away their mother are an embarrassment and a public disgrace.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A son who mistreats his parents brings shame and reproach. Dishonoring father and mother is a disgraceful sin.
Overview
This proverb condemns the son who robs his father and drives out his mother as one who brings shame and reproach upon himself. It upholds the fifth commandment's call to honor parents (Exod. 20:12) and exposes the disgrace of violating it. Such honor toward parents reflects the deeper honor due to God, and the gospel renews hearts to love and care for family rather than to wound them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 10:5He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.
- Prov 28:24Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer.
- Prov 30:17The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
- Prov 17:2A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.
- Prov 28:14Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
- Prov 28:7Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.
- Deut 21:18–21If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
- Prov 10:1The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
- Prov 17:25A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.
- Prov 30:11There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
- Prov 23:22–25Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
- Luke 15:12–16And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
- Luke 15:30But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
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Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 19:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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