May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
Parallel translations
- WEB Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!
- KJV Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
- NKJV Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.
- NASB Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
- NLT So give your father and mother joy! May she who gave you birth be happy.
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
May your wise living bring joy to both your father and the mother who bore you.
Overview
The teacher expresses the desire that a child's wisdom would gladden both parents who gave and nurtured life. It personalizes the previous verse, calling the son to live so as to bring his parents joy. Such honor of father and mother fulfills God's design for the family and pleases the Lord (Eph. 6:1-3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Prov 17:25A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.
- Luke 1:58Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they rejoiced with her.
- Luke 11:27–28As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and blessed are the breasts that nursed You!”
- Luke 1:40–47where she entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
- 1 Chr 4:9–10Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”
- Luke 1:31–33Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.
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 23:25 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.