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Proverbs 30 · a question people ask

"The eye that mocks at his father" (30:17). Is 30:17 saying what will happen to anyone who mocks a parent?

In the text

30:17 is a saying, and it speaks in picture words. Its subject is "The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother" (30:17) (tap obedience), and what it says of that eye is told of ravens and young eagles. It names no person and no time, and it gives no one a command to carry out. The chapter spoke of the same thing a few verses before: "There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn’t bless their mother" (30:11). Proverbs speaks in sayings, and it asks its reader "to understand a proverb and parables" (Proverbs 1:6). These notes quote 30:17 as it stands and don't apply it to anyone's family today (see the heads-up for leaders).

The verses

“There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn’t bless their mother.”
Proverbs 30:11 · World English Bible
““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.”
Proverbs 30:17 · World English Bible
“to understand a proverb and parables, the words and riddles of the wise.”
Proverbs 1:6 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Proverbs 30

Proverbs 30: Every word of God is flawless

The speaker who says "neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One" (30:3) goes on, "Every word of God is flawless" (30:5), nearly David's own line. And the chapter ends on one Hebrew word said three times: churning, wringing and forcing (30:33), with nose and wrath one word too.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions