My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his reproof:
- BSB My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;
- NKJV My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction;
- NASB My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord Or loathe His rebuke,
- NLT My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you.
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 despise the Lord's discipline or resent His reproof. It matters because God's correction is part of His care, to be received humbly.
Overview
The teaching turns to suffering: God's discipline should be neither scorned nor wearily resented. Correction is a sign of relationship, not rejection. Hebrews 12:5-6 quotes this very passage to encourage believers that God's discipline confirms our sonship through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Job 5:17Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
- Rev 3:19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Heb 12:5–12And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
- Ps 94:12Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
- Isa 40:30–31Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
- 1 Cor 11:32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
- 2 Cor 4:16–17For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
- 2 Cor 4:1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
- Prov 24:10If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
- Heb 12:3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
- Job 4:5But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 3:11 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.