Proverbs 17:21
WEB
He who becomes the father of a fool grieves. The father of a fool has no joy.
BSB
A man fathers a fool to his own grief; the father of a fool has no joy.
KJV
He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.
Matthew Henry
Hebrew interlinear
H3205
v — bear young, beget, act as midwife, show lineage
Derivation: a primitive root;
to bear young; causatively, to beget; medically, to act as midwife; specifically, to show lineage
KJV: bear, beget, birth(-day), born, (make to) bring forth (children, young), bring up, calve, child, come, be delivered (of a child), time of delivery, gender, hatch, labour, (do the office of a) midwife, declare pedigrees, be the son of, (woman in, woman that) travail(-eth, -ing woman).
vb — bear
יָלַד 497 vb. bear, bring forth, beget
Qal
1. bear, bring forth
2. less often beget
3. of both parents
Niph. be born
Pi. cause (or help) to bring forth, viz., assist or tend as midwife
Pu. be born
Hiph.
1. beget (a father a child)
2. bear
Hoph. day of one's being born = birthday
Hithp. declared their pedigree
H3684
n-m — fat, stupid, silly
Derivation: from 3688;
properly, fat, i.e. (figuratively) stupid or silly
KJV: fool(-ish).
n.m — stupid fellow
כְּסִיל 70 n.m. stupid fellow, dullard, fool
H8424
n-f — depression, grief
Derivation: from 3013;
depression (of spirits); concretely a grief
KJV: heaviness, sorrow.
n.f — grief
תּוּגָה n.f. grief (poet.)
H3808
adv — not, no
Derivation: or לוֹא; or לֹה; (Deuteronomy 3:11), a primitive particle;
not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles
KJV: × before, or else, ere, except, ig(-norant), much, less, nay, neither, never, no((-ne), -r, (-thing)), (× as though...,(can-), for) not (out of), of nought, otherwise, out of, surely, as truly as, of a truth, verily, for want, whether, without.
adv — not
לֹא or לוֹא adv. not
H8055
v — brighten, be, blithe, gleesome
Derivation: a primitive root;
probably to brighten up, i.e. (figuratively) be (causatively, make) blithe or gleesome
KJV: cheer up, be (make) glad, (have, make) joy(-ful), be (make) merry, (cause to, make to) rejoice, × very.
vb — rejoice
שָׂמַח, שָׂמִ֑חַ 154 vb. rejoice, be glad
Qal 126
1. in common life
2.
a. rejoice religiously
b. subj. י׳
Pi. cause to rejoice, gladden
Hiph. = Pi.
H1
n-m — father
Derivation: a primitive word;
father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application
KJV: chief, (fore-) father(-less), × patrimony, principal. Compare names in 'Abi-'.
n.m — father
אָב 1101 n.m. father
1. father of individual
2. of God as father of his people
3. head of household, family or clan
4. ancestor
5. originator or patron of a class, profession, or art
6. fig. of producer, generator
7. fig. of benevolence & protection
8. term of respect & honor
9. specif., ruler, chief (late)
H5036
a — stupid, wicked, impious
Derivation: from 5034;
stupid; wicked (especially impious)
KJV: fool(-ish, -ish man, -ish woman), vile person.
adj — foolish
נָבָל adj. foolish, senseless, esp. of the man who has no perception of ethical and religious claims, and with collat. idea of ignoble, disgraceful; elsewh. as subst. (impious and presumptuous) fool
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Verse 21
Proverbs 17:21
This expresses that very emphatically which many wise and good men feel very sensibly, what a grievous vexatious thing it is to have a foolish wicked child. See here, 1. How uncertain all our creature-comforts are, so that we are often not only disappointed in them, but that proves the greatest cross in which we promised ourselves most satisfaction. There was joy when a man-child was born into the world, and yet, if he prove vicious, his own father will wish he had never been born. The name of Absalom signifies his father's peace, but he was his greatest trouble. It should moderate the desire of having children, and the delights of their parents in them, that they may prove a grief to them; yet it should silence the murmurings of the afflicted father in that case that if his son be a fool he is a fool of his own begetting, and therefore he must make the best of him, and take it up as his cross, the rather because Adam begets a son in his own likeness. 2. How unwise we are in suffering one affliction (and that of an untoward child as likely as any other) to drown the sense of a thousand mercies: The father of a fool lays that so much to heart that he has no joy of any thing else. For this he may thank himself; there are joys sufficient to counterbalance even that sorrow.