Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.
Parallel Translations
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Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.
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Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.
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Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Proverbs 17:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 127:3-5 Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They won’t be disappointed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
- Proverbs 16:31 Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.
- Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.
- Psalms 128:3-6 Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears Yahweh. May Yahweh bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.
- Exodus 3:14-15 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
- Genesis 50:23 Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.
- 1 Kings 11:12 Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand.
- 1 Kings 15:4 Nevertheless for David’s sake, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem;
- Job 42:16-17 After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 17:6 Children’s children [are] the crown of old…
Pro 17:6 Children’s children [are] the crown of old men; and the glory of children [are] their fathers.
Ver. 6. Children’s children are the crown of old men.] That is, if they be not children those who "cause shame," as Pro 17:2, and who disgrace their ancestors - stain their blood; if they obey their parents’ counsel and follow their good example; for otherwise they prove not crowns, but corrosives, to their aged sires, as did Esau, Absalom, Andronicus, and others.
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And the glory of children are their parents.] If those children so well descended do not degenerate, as Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh - or rather of Moses, as the Hebrews read it with a nun suspensum {Jdg 18:31} - and as Eli’s, Samuel’s, and some of David’s sons did. Heroum filii noxae. Manasseh had a good father, but he degenerated into his grandfather Ahaz, as if there had been no intervention of a Hezekiah. So we have seen the kernel of a well-fruited plant degenerate into that crab or willow that gave the original to his stock. But what an honour was it to Jacob that he could swear "by the fear of his father Isaac!" - to David, that he could, in a real and heavenly compliment, say to his Maker, "Truly, Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid!" {Psa 116:16} - to Timothy, that the same faith that was in him had dwelt first "in his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice!" {2Ti 1:5} - to the children of the elect lady! &c. - to Mark, that he was Barnabas’s sister’s son! - to Alexander and Rufus, men mentioned only, Mar 15:21, but famously known in the Church to be the sons of Simon of Cyrene! - to the sons of Constantine the Great, to come of such a father, whom they did wholly put on, saith Eusebius, {a} and exactly resemble! - to be descended of those glorious martyrs and confessors that suffered here in Queen Mary’s days!
{a} ολον ενεδυσαντο το Kονσταντιν. - Euseb.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The crown of old men; their honour and happiness,…
The crown of old men; their honour and happiness, because they are in themselves blessings of God, and testimonies of God’s favour, although sometimes they may become the shame of their father’s house.
Their fathers; namely, such fathers as are wise and godly, as is evident from the nature of the thing, for wicked parents bring infamy upon their children.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain They are so, that is, they should be so,…
They are so, that is, they should be so, and, if they conduct themselves worthily, they are so. 1. It is an honour to parents when they are old to leave children, and children's children, growing up, that tread in the steps of their virtues, and are likely to maintain and advance the reputation of their families. It is an honour to a man to live so long as to see his children's children (Psa 128:6; Gen 50:23), to see his house built up in them, and to see them likely to serve their generation according to the will of God. This crowns and completes their comfort in this world. 2. It is an honour to children to have wise and godly parents, and to have them continued to them even after they have themselves grown up and settled in the world. Those are unnatural children who reckon their aged parents a burden to them, and think they live too long; whereas, if the children be wise and good, it is as much their honour as can be that thereby they are comforts to their parents in the unpleasant days of their old age.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Children's children are the crown of old men,.... Ancient…
Children's children are the crown of old men,.... Ancient parents. Grandfathers with the Jews are called old men, as Buxtorf (d) observes. A numerous progeny was reckoned a great blessing to a man; to have his table surrounded with children, as olive plants; to be encircled with a large family was a crown of glory (e); and to live to see children's children, a large number of grandchildren, was still a greater glory; and especially, as Jarchi observes, when these children, or children's children, were walking in a good way, in the good ways of religion and godliness, they trained them up in. Christ is the Ancient of days, the everlasting Father; and it is his glory, as Mediator, to see his seed, to have a numerous off spring; and which will endure for ever, as the days of heaven: ministers of the Gospel are spiritual fathers; and those who have been converted under their ministry wilt be their joy and "crown of rejoicing" at the last day, Th1 2:19;
and the glory of children are their fathers; who are wise, as Aben Ezra observes; and righteous, as Jarchi: if they are wise and good men, it is an honour to their children that they descend from them; nor are they ashamed to own their relation to them, but glory in it, as the Jews did in Abraham, saying, "We have Abraham for our father", Mat 3:9, Luk 3:8, but, on the contrary, if their fathers are foolish or wicked, their children are ashamed of them, and do not care to acknowledge their descent from them; and such parents, who are an honour to their children, their children should be careful to tread in their steps, that they reflect no dishonour on them; particularly as it is our great honour and glory to have God for our father, to be his adopted sons and daughters, we should be followers of him as dear children, and be obedient ones.
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(d) In Lex. Talmud. col. 684. (e) "Te felix natorum turba coronat", Claudian. de Raptu Prosperp. l. 1. v. 109.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 17:6. Children’s children are the crown of old…
Pro 17:6. Children’s children are the crown of old men — It is an honour to parents, when they are old, to leave children, and children’s children growing up, that tread in the steps of their virtues, and are likely to maintain and advance the reputation of their families, and to serve their generation according to the will of God; and the glory of children are their fathers — Namely, fathers that are wise and godly. To have such parents is an honour to children, and to have them continued to them even after they are themselves grown up, and settled in the world. Those are unnatural children indeed who reckon their aged parents a burden to them, and think they live too long; whereas, if children be wise and good, it is their greatest honour, that thereby they are comforts to their parents in the unpleasant days of their old age.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The reciprocity of good in sustained family relationships. A…
The reciprocity of good in sustained family relationships. A long line of children’s children is the glory of old age, a long line of ancestors the glory of their descendants.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain This Proverb has its limit. What a crown of…
This Proverb has its limit. What a crown of thorns to each other are an ungodly progeny and graceless parents! Little glory indeed did Rehoboam and his son add to their fathers.†1 As little was the godly Hezekiah dignified by his reprobate parent.†2 Gehazi brought shame, not glory, to his children.†3 But in the ordinary course gracious children and parents reflect honour upon each other. Such parents rejoice in the number and growth of their children. Such children regard their father’s name as their glory. Joseph was indeed a crown to his aged father (Gen 47:11-12 ); as was Jacob himself the glory of his child, even in a Heathen nation. (Gen 47:7-10 .) ’A good root maketh the branches to flourish, by virtue of the lively sap that it sendeth up. And flourishing branches win praise to the root, for the pleasant fruit which they bring forth.’†4
The Old Testament promise — "length of days" (Pro 3:2, Pro 3:16 ) — was enhanced, when accompanied with the blessing of children; yet more — when crowned with the increase of children’s children.†5 The true blessing, however, could only be known, when children, early brought up into God’s covenant, were trained in his ways, and "declared them to their children, that they might set their hope in God." (Psa 78:5-7 .) "Happy was the man, who had his quiver full of such children." (Psa 127:5 .) Happy the children, thus crowned with the example of such fathers! Abraham was the honourable, though delusive, boast of his seed.†6 David was the glory of his children, preserving to them the throne of Judah for seventeen generations.†7 And may not godly parents, under a larger dispensation of grace educating their children by example, no less than by precept — may they not look for a "godly seed" — the children of the covenant,†8 who shall acknowledge infinite, eternal obligations to parental faith and godliness?†9
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Footnotes:
†1 1Ki 12:1-33
†2 2 Chronicles 28. 29.
†3 2Ki 5:27 .
†4 Clever on Pro 1:1 .
†5 Gen 48:11; Gen 50:23 . Job 42:16 . Psa 128:6 .
†6 Mat 3:9. Joh 8:33 .
†7 1Ki 11:12-13 ; 1Ki 15:4 . 2Ch 21:7 .
†8 Gen 17:7. Psa 127:3 .
†9 2Ti 1:5 ; 2Ti 3:15 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Fathers. Whose virtues they are bound to imitate.
Fathers. Whose virtues they are bound to imitate.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Prolonged posterity is a blessing, its cutting off a…
Prolonged posterity is a blessing, its cutting off a curse (Pro 13:22; Psa 109:13-15), hence children may glory in virtuous ancestry.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Crown of old men — He has had…
6. Crown of old men — He has had an illustration of this proverb who has met, as the writer has, a venerable patriarch, honoured both for his piety and his intelligence, who counted his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren by scores if not by hundreds, and to whom they all looked up with that veneration and affection which were becoming his years and character. He was as particular about his ספר תולדות, (sepher toledhoth,) book of genealogy — family record — as one of the patriarchs of old, and enjoined on every branch of his family to report the birth of every child, to be entered in its appropriate place in the family register. Compare on first clause Psa_127:5; Psa_128:3.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. “A beautiful family picture of linked and mutually…
6. “A beautiful family picture of linked and mutually blessed “generations.” Horton.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Children’s children are the crown of old men.—Comp.…
(6) Children’s children are the crown of old men.—Comp. Psalms 127, 128.
The glory of children are their fathers.—And, as such, to be honoured by them. For the blessing which parents bring to children, comp. 1Ki_11:13; 1Ki_15:4; Jer_33:21.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Children"s children are the crown of old men. (comp.…
Children"s children are the crown of old men. (comp. Ps 127 Ps 128) (For the term "crown," comp. Pro_16:18) Thus St. Paul calls his converts his "joy and crown." (Php_4:1 1Th_2:19) In the East a large number of children is considered a great blessing, being a guarantee of the stability of the family. Thus writes Euripides ("Iph. Taur.," 57) Stuloi ga . "Male children are the pillars of the house.
The glory of children are their fathers. A long line of good or celebrated ancestors is the glory of their descendants, and brings a blessing on them. (see 1Ki_11:13 1Ki_15:4) Hereditary nobility, based on descent from some eminent progenitor, may be a source of not unseemly pride, and a spur to a life worthy of such excellent ancestry.
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Vers. 6, 21, 25. Fatherhood and sonship.
Certainly, some of our very greatest mercies are those that come to us in our domestic relationships.
I THE JOY AND CROWN OF FATHERHOOD AND OF GRANDFATHERHOOD. Our Lord speaks of the mother forgetting her anguish "for joy that a man is born into the world". (Joh_16:21) The joy of parentage is keen, and it is common; it may, indeed, be said to be universal. And it is pure and good; it elevates and enlarges the soul, taking thought and care away from self to another, and by so doing it distinctly benefits and blesses the nature. And, like all pure joys, it is lasting; it does not evaporate with time; on the other hand, it grows and deepens as the child of its affection develops and matures. Moreover, in the kind providence of God, it is renewable in another generation; for the grandfather has almost as much delight in his grandson as the father in his child. (text; Gen_50:23 Psa_128:6) Fatherhood (motherhood) is:
1. A natural desire of the human heart.
2. Often the reward which God gives to patient industry and virtue in earlier days; for the setting up of a home is, in many if not in most cases, the attainment of a hope for which the young have striven and waited.
3. Sometimes a source of grievous disappointment and saddest sorrow (vers. 21, 25). There is no one in the world who can pierce our souls with such bitter anguish as can our own child when he or she goes astray from wisdom and righteousness.
4. Always an entail of the most serious responsibility; for what we are inspirit and in character it is most likely that our children will become.
5. Therefore a noble opportunity; for it is in our power, by wisdom and virtue, by kindness and piety, to lead our sons into the gates of privilege and up to the gates of the kingdom of Christ.
6. And therefore usually a source of profoundest gratitude and gladness, and the means by which we can hand down our principles and our influence, through our own direct endeavours, to the second and the third generation.
II THE GLORY OF CHILDHOOD. "The glory of children are their fathers.
1. It is the greatest of all earthly heritages to have parents that can be esteemed and loved. Happy is the son who, as his judgment matures, can honour his father with an undiminishing or even a growing regard and deepening joy.
2. It is a very real delight to be able to look back, through all the later years of life, and recall the memories of the beloved and revered parents who have "passed into the skies
3. It is the duty of childhood to make the very best response it can make for the love, care, pains, patience, prayerful solicitude, its parents have expended upon it.
4. It will remain a lasting, source of thankfulness and joy that every possible filial attention was paid that could be paid; lighting and smoothing the path of the parents to the very door of heaven. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_17:6
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_17:6
FATHERS AND CHILDREN
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Two things are implied in this proberb:—First, that the fathers are good men. An aged man who is not a godly man cannot in any sense reflect any glory upon his descendants. Secondly, that the children are also godly and true, otherwise they are anything but a crown to their parents. The Wise Man is here speaking of those who are in both relations what God intended them to be. When such is the case—
I. The children bring honour to their parents. They testify that the parents have trained them in the way that they should go—that they have given them a good example as well as good advice, and every child is then like a separate mirror, reflecting the character of the godly parent by whose influence he has become what he now is. And the greater number of these mirrors there are, the more brilliant is the crown of honour which is worn by the godly ancestor whose virtues are thus reproduced in his children and in his children’s children, even long after he has left the world. Every tribute of respect that is paid to the children is another jewel placed in the crown of the godly ancestor.
II. The parents are the glory of their children. Men glory in being descended from ancestors who have been great warriors or who have left them a vast inheritance of material wealth, but an inheritance of goodness reflects as much more glory upon those who are its heirs as the glory of heaven exceeds that of earth. Goodness holds a very old patent of nobility, and when children can boast of a long line of God-fearing ancestors, they can boast of a dignity which is as old as God. To be the descendants of those who are now before the throne of God is a glory before which all earthly glory fades away.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 6. Children’s children are the crown of old…
v. 6. Children’s children are the crown of old men, it is a blessing of the Lord and a source of honor and pride to the gray-headed if they see their offspring to the third generation, for the happiness of the younger generation is reflected in the life of the older; and the glory of children are their fathers, for the rule works both ways, and pious children share in the honor enjoyed by their parents.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 17:6 Only those who have been blessed with a…
17:6 Only those who have been blessed with a long life live to become grandparents, and the continuation of the family line is a sign of God’s blessing (see Gen 12:1-3). • parents: Literally fathers. This proverb applies to both fathers and mothers.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.