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Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!
Proverbs 23:25 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
  • BSB May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth 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 her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.
  • Luke 11:27–28It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”
  • Luke 1:40–47and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
  • 1 Chr 4:9–10Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him with sorrow.”
  • Luke 1:31–33Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and give birth to a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 23:25YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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.