Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t move the ancient boundary stone, which your fathers have set up.
- BSB Do not move an ancient boundary stone which your fathers have placed.
- NKJV Do not remove the ancient landmark Which your fathers have set.
- NASB ¶Do not move the ancient boundary Which your fathers have set.
- NLT Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers set up by previous generations.
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
Do not move the ancient boundary markers that earlier generations established.
Overview
Boundary stones marked the inheritance God allotted to families in Israel, so moving them was both theft and a violation of His order (Deut. 19:14). The reference to "your fathers" links property rights to covenant inheritance and respect for received order. It warns against quietly seizing what belongs to another, a principle that guards the vulnerable and honors God's gifts.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Deut 27:17Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.
- Prov 23:10Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
- Deut 19:14Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
- Job 24:2Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
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 22:28 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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