Proverbs - 19:26



26 He who robs his father and drives away his mother, is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Proverbs 19:26.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach.
He that doeth violence to his father, and chaseth away his mother, Is a son that causeth shame and bringeth reproach.
He that afflicteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is infamous and unhappy.
He that ruineth his father and chaseth away his mother is a son that causeth shame and bringeth reproach.
He that spoileth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame and bringeth reproach.
Whoso is spoiling a father causeth a mother to flee, A son causing shame, and bringing confusion.
He that wastes his father, and chases away his mother, is a son that causes shame, and brings reproach.
He who is violent to his father, driving away his mother, is a son causing shame and a bad name.
A son that dealeth shamefully and reproachfully Will despoil his father, and chase away his mother.
Whoever afflicts his father and flees from his mother is disreputable and unhappy.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Or, A son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach, is one that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother.

He that wasteth his father - Destroys his substance by riotous or extravagant living, so as to embitter his latter end by poverty and affliction; and adds to this wickedness the expulsion of his aged widowed mother from the paternal house; is a son of shame - a most shameful man; and a son of reproach - one whose conduct cannot be sufficiently execrated. Who tormentith the fader, and fleeth the modir, schenful schal ben, and unblisful - Old MS. Bible. The common reading of the Vulgate is, et fugat matrem, and expels his mother; but the Old Bible was taken from a copy that had fugit matrem, shuns his mother, flees away from her, leaves her to affliction and penury. It is prostitution of the term to call such, man.

He that wasteth his father,.... His father's substance, which he gave him first as his portion, and afterwards by paying his debts, and getting him out of prison and out of broils, and that wastes his spirits and his health, and brings his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave;
and chaseth away his mother: alienates her affections from him, who once had too great a fondness for him; causes her to quit her house, not being able to bear the sight of him and of his actions:
is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach; causes shame to his parents, as well as to himself; and a reproach upon them, as well as on his own character. It may be read thus,
"a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach, wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother (y).''
(y) So Gejerus, Schultens.

The young man who wastes his father's substance, or makes his aged mother destitute, is hateful, and will come to disgrace.

With Proverbs 19:26 there thus begins the fourth principal part of the Solomonic collection of proverbs introduced by chap. 1-9.
He that doeth violence to his father and chaseth his mother,
Is a son that bringeth shame and disgrace.
The right name is given in the second line to him who acts as is described in the first. שׁדּד means properly to barricade [obstruere], and then in general to do violence to, here: to ruin one both as to life and property. The part., which has the force of an attributive clause, is continued in the finite: qui matrem fugat; this is the rule of the Hebrews. style, which is not filome'tochos, Gesen. 134, Anm. 2. Regarding מבישׁ, vid., at Proverbs 10:5; regarding the placing together of הבישׁ והחפּיר, vid., Proverbs 13:5, where for הבישׁ, to make shame, to be scandalous, the word הבאישׁ, which is radically different, meaning to bring into bad odour, is used. The putting to shame is in בּושׁ ni si (kindred with Arab. bâth) thought of as disturbatio (cf. σύγχυσις) (cf. at Ps. 6:11), in חפר (khfr) as opertio (cf. Cicero's Cluent. 20: infamia et dedecore opertus), not, as I formerly thought, with Frst, as reddening, blushing (vid., Psalm 34:6). Putting to shame would in this connection be too weak a meaning for מחפּיר. The paedagogic stamp which Proverbs 19:26 impresses on this fourth principal part is made yet further distinct in the verse that now follows.

Wasteth - His father's estate. Chaseth - Causes her to avoid his presence, and to go from the house where he is.

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