As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.
Parallel translations
- WEB “The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.
- KJV The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
- NKJV The eye that mocks his father, And scorns obedience to his mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it.
- NASB The eye that mocks a father And scorns a mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it.
- NLT The eye that mocks a father and despises a mother’s instructions will be plucked out by ravens of the valley and eaten by vultures.
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
Those who mock and scorn their parents face shameful judgment, vividly pictured as carrion for birds.
Overview
The grim image of ravens and eagles devouring the eye warns that contempt for parents brings disgrace and divine judgment. The eye that scorns is fittingly the eye that is plucked out, a poetic justice. This severe saying upholds the honor due to parents and, behind them, to God, whose authority all such honor reflects.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Deut 21:18–21If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,
- Prov 30:11There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.
- Prov 23:22Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
- 2 Sam 18:14–17But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.
- Lev 20:9If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.
- Gen 9:21–27But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
- Prov 20:20Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
- 2 Sam 21:10And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
- 1 Sam 17:44“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- Deut 28:26Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away.
- 2 Sam 18:9–10Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.
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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 30:17 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.