Proverbs 23:22–25
Do not despise your mother when she is old; parents rejoice in a wise child
Study it word by word22Listen to your father who fathered you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23Buy truth, and do not sell it; wisdom, correction, and understanding.
24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and whoever fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
25Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice.
In its context
20Do not be among drinkers of wine, among gluttons of meat for themselves;
21for the drinker and the glutton will become poor, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
…
26Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes keep my ways.
27For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a narrow well.
Its words in the original
- שְׁמַעshema· hear, listen, obey
Hear, listen. In the Bible listening truly includes paying heed; so it often means "obey". In the causative form, make heard, proclaim.
- אָבִיavi· father
Father; also ancestor ("our fathers"), and the founder or head of a family or group.
- יְלָדֶyelade· bear, father
Give birth, bear children; said of the father, "father" or "beget". In some forms, help at a birth (midwife) or be born.
- תָּבוּזtavuz· despise
To despise, to think little of; to treat something or someone as worthless.
- זָקְנָהzakna· grow old
Grow old, be old.
- אִמֶּime· mother
Mother; also figuratively, a city as the mother of its people.
- אֱמֶתemet· faithfulness, truth
Truth, firmness. Said of a person or of God, faithfulness: he can be trusted because he keeps his word. It often goes with "loyal love".
- קְנֵהkene· acquire, buy
Acquire, get, buy; own. Sometimes "create" or "form".
- תִּמְכֹּרtimkor· sell
Sell; figuratively, hand someone over.
- חָכְמָהchachma· wisdom, skill
Wisdom: knowing how to live and act well; also the skill of a good craftsman.
- מוּסָרmusar· discipline, correction
Discipline: teaching that straightens, sometimes with punishment; it comes from the verb "discipline."
- בִינָהvina· understanding
Understanding: the ability to comprehend and to tell one thing from another.
- גִּילgil· rejoicing
Rejoicing, great joy that shows outwardly.
- יָגִילyagil· rejoice
To rejoice: to be very glad, to leap for joy.
- צַדִּיקtsadik· righteous
Righteous: one who does what is right before God and before others; just, innocent.
- חָכָםchacham· wise
Wise; skilled, expert.
- יִשְׂמַחyismach· rejoice
Rejoice, be glad; make glad.