Grace Answers
Hezekiah's Collection
Proverbs › Chapter 29 › Proverbs 29:17

What Does Proverbs 29:17 Mean?

Correct your son, and he will give you rest;Yes, he will give delight to your soul.Proverbs 29:17 · NKJV

The formation complex again. The verb is `יַסֵּר`, the same one that opens 19:18.

Quick answer

Correction is presented as something that comes back to the parent, and what it returns is rest. The verse describes a relationship, not a technique.

Read both lines

The verb יַסֵּר is the one 19:18 used, instruct-by-discipline, and pairing the two verses is the right way to read this one, because 19:18's second line supplies the limit that this verse does not repeat: do not set your heart on his destruction. The complex is settled at 13:24, 19:18 and 23:13–14 and is not re-derived here.

What this verse adds is the return. Not a well-behaved child, not a credit to the family, but וִינִיחֶךָ, he will give you rest, and then delight לְנַפְשֶׁךָ, to your life. Those are words about the parent's interior, which is an unusual place for this book to look. The father in 27:11 admitted his standing was exposed; this one is offered something quieter and better.

Related: Proverbs 19:18 · Proverbs 13:24 · Proverbs 29:15 · Proverbs 27:11

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.

Go Deeper

If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.