My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction;
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his reproof:
- KJV My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
- BSB My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;
- 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 5:17“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
- Rev 3:19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Heb 12:5–12and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
- Ps 94:12Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah, and teach out of your law;
- Isa 40:30–31Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
- 1 Cor 11:32But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
- 2 Cor 4:16–17Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
- 2 Cor 4:1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.
- Prov 24:10If you falter in the time of trouble, your strength is small.
- Heb 12:3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
- Job 4:5But now it has come to you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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