Proverbs 13:24; 22:15; 23:13–14; 29:15
"He that spareth his rod"
"He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." The library's witnesses agree. The questions are what the saying meant in its world and how it should be read today. In its setting it assumes physical punishment as part of raising children; its lasting point is that love does not abandon a child to folly.
Read Proverbs 13:24; 22:15; 23:13–14; 29:15 in every edition
Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
The proverb as first composed
No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).
Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Qui parcit virgæ odit filium suum; qui autem diligit illum instanter erudit.
Latin position: Proverbs 13:24. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398); the Clementine Vulgate sometimes also carries lines from the Greek.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
חוֹשֵׂ֣ךְ שִׁ֭בְטוֹ שׂוֹנֵ֣א בְנ֑וֹ וְ֝אֹהֲב֗וֹ שִֽׁחֲר֥וֹ מוּסָֽר׃
One who holds back his rod hates his son; one who loves him seeks him (early) with discipline
Hebrew position: Proverbs 13:24.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872
Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Celui qui épargne le bâton n’aime pas son fils; celui qui l’aime le châtie à propos.
Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 13:23. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). In these chapters the Greek verse positions in the digital file shift; the matching line was found by content. No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.
What changed, and why
Shevet is a rod or staff: a shepherd's staff (Psalm 23:4), a ruler's sceptre (Genesis 49:10), and an instrument of punishment (Exodus 21:20). Musar, "discipline," includes instruction and correction. Shicharo ("chasteneth him betimes") may mean "seeks him early" or "diligently": attentive, timely correction.
Egyptian and Mesopotamian school texts assume beating: an Egyptian miscellany says "a boy's ear is on his back; he listens when he is beaten." Proverbs shares that culture. It also limits it: 19:18 warns not to set one's heart on a child's death, and Deuteronomy 21:18–21 removed the extreme case from the parents to the elders.
Modern research associates physical punishment with harm to children, and the law in many countries prohibits it. Christian and Jewish readers differ on whether the method is commanded or culturally conditioned. The site's position: these sayings are explained in their ancient setting and are never presented as a mandate to injure a child; their teaching that love includes guidance and correction is lasting.
What the evidence shows
- The library's witnesses agree on 13:24.
- Ancient Near Eastern instruction assumed corporal punishment of children.
- Proverbs 13:24 is a command to beat children in every age. The site reads it in its setting and rejects its use to justify harm.
Sources
Related lessons
- Proverbs 13: Hope Deferred Maketh the Heart Sick →Chapter 13 joins sayings on accepting teaching (vv. 1, 13–14, 18, 20) with sayings on wealth that look beneath appearances: some pretend to be rich, others pretend to be poor (v. 7); dishonest wealth dwindles (v. 11); "Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment" (v. 23), a saying that blames injustice, not laziness, for hunger. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick" (v. 12). And it contains one of the most debated lines in Proverbs: "He that spareth his rod hateth his son" (v. 24).
- Proverbs 22: Train Up a Child →Proverbs 22 ends the first Solomonic collection (vv. 1–16) and begins a new one (vv. 17–29). The first part has famous sayings: "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches" (v. 1), "The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all" (v. 2), "Train up a child in the way he should go" (v. 6), "the borrower is servant to the lender" (v. 7). At 22:17 a teacher says "Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise" and promises "excellent things" (or "thirty sayings," v. 20). The sayings that follow (22:17–23:11) closely resemble the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope: do not rob the poor (v. 22), do not befriend an angry man (v. 24), do not remove the ancient landmark (v. 28), the skilled worker will stand before kings (v. 29).