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Journey of a Passage

Proverbs 22:6

"Train up a child in the way he should go"

"Train up (chanokh) a child (na'ar) according to his way (al pi darko): even when he is old he will not depart from it." The Hebrew phrase "his way" has three interpretations. The verse is in the Hebrew and the Vulgate; the library's Greek has no equivalent at all, and the Old Greek is reported to lack it.

Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not

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.

✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

      The proverb as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

    2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

      Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

      ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Proverbium est: adolescens juxta viam suam; etiam cum senuerit, non recedet ab ea.

      Latin position: Proverbs 22:6. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398); the Clementine Vulgate sometimes also carries lines from the Greek.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      חֲנֹ֣ךְ לַ֭נַּעַר עַל־פִּ֣י דַרְכּ֑וֹ גַּ֥ם כִּֽי־יַ֝זְקִ֗ין לֹֽא־יָס֥וּר מִמֶּֽנָּה׃

      Dedicate a youth according to his way; even when he is old he will not turn from it

      Hebrew position: Proverbs 22:6.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

      ✕ Passage not in this witness (the disputed words)Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      No line corresponding to Hebrew 22:6 in the digital file: the file's 22:5 is Hebrew 22:5 and its 22:6 is Hebrew 22:7. The Old Greek is reported to lack the verse (C check). An empty place in a digital edition is not by itself evidence about Greek manuscripts.

    What changed, and why

    Interpretations of al pi darko: (1) "the way he should go" (KJV, most translations): the right way of life; (2) "according to his way": suited to the child's own nature, aptitude or stage of life; (3) ironically, "his own way": indulge a child, and he will never grow out of it. Chanakh means to dedicate or initiate (a house, Deuteronomy 20:5; the temple, 1 Kings 8:63).

    The verse is a general saying about formation, not a promise that every child raised well will remain faithful; Ezekiel 18 insists each generation is responsible for itself, and biblical families (Samuel's sons, Hezekiah's son Manasseh) show the opposite outcome.

    The Greek omission: in the library's Greek, the line after 22:5 corresponds to Hebrew 22:7 ("the rich will rule the poor"). The verse's absence from the Old Greek is reported in scholarship; whether it was missing from the translator's Hebrew or dropped in Greek transmission is unknown (C check against Rahlfs and Greek manuscripts).

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe library's Greek has no equivalent of 22:6.
    • Not independently verifiedThe Old Greek lacks 22:6. PROVISIONAL. Seen only in the library's digital French file (Giguet), which misplaces and duplicates Greek verses in Proverbs. It is not a manuscript claim until checked against Rahlfs–Hanhart and the Greek manuscripts (C check PV3-C01).
    • Conflicts with current evidenceProverbs 22:6 guarantees that well-trained children stay faithful.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • 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).