Proverbs 19:29

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Penalties are prepared for scoffers, And beatings for the backs of fools.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Download a study sheet

One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.

This verse Autodidact and up

Study sheet (.html) Plain text (.txt)

A passage Seminary Student

Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.

Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.

Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

Word by word

More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →

Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →

וּ֝מַהֲלֻמ֗וֹת

mahălummâh

H4112

“and · blows”

Conjunction + Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute

Appears 2× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Proverbs 18:6

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H1986

TWOT: 502c

strokes, blows

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וּ֝מַהֲלֻמ֗וֹת blows H4112 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וּ֝מַהֲלֻמ֗וֹת blows H4112 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Proverbs 18:6

Grammatical profile

1 verb
3 nouns
2 adjectives

Verb forms

נָכ֣וֹנוּ Niphal · Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 12 words from the Hebrew and 11 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 6 Hebrew tokens and 7 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Proverbs 19:29 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Proverbs 26:3 A whip for the horse, A bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the back of fools!
Proverbs 10:13 Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment, But a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding.
Proverbs 9:12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you mock, you alone will bear it.
Acts 13:40–41 Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets:
2 Peter 3:3–7 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts,
Proverbs 3:34 Surely he mocks the mockers, But he gives grace to the humble.
Proverbs 17:10 A rebuke enters deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred lashes into a fool.
Proverbs 18:6 A fool's lips come into strife, And his mouth invites beatings.

Isaiah 28:22 Now therefore don't you be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for a decree of destruction have I heard from the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, on the whole earth.
Isaiah 29:20 For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who watch for iniquity are cut off;
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, And scourges every son whom he receives."
Proverbs 7:22 He followed her immediately, As an ox goes to the slaughter, As a fool stepping into a noose.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Proverbs 19:29 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

נָכ֣וֹנוּ לַלֵּצִ֣ים שְׁפָטִ֑ים וּ֝מַהֲלֻמ֗וֹת לְגֵ֣ו כְּסִילִֽים

Penalties are prepared for scoffers, And beatings for the backs of fools.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Proverbs 19:29 Septuagint · lemma form

ἑτοιμάζω ἀκόλαστος μάστιξ καί τιμωρία ὦμος ἄφρων

Scourges are preparing for the intemperate, and punishments likewise for fools.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Proverbs 19:29 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Pro 19:29 Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.

Ver. 29. Judgments are prepared for scorners.] For these scorners (that promise themselves impunity) are judgments, not one, but many, not appointed only, but prepared long since, and now ready to be executed.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Pro 19:29. Judgments are prepared for scorners — Either by men, or, at least, by God; although they be deferred for a time, yet they are treasured up for them, and shall infallibly be inflicted upon them: and stripes for the back of fools — Nor shall other sinners escape, who sin through want of consideration, but they also shall be punished, though in a less degree.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Note, 1. Scorners are fools. Those that ridicule things sacred and serious do but make themselves ridiculous. Their folly shall be manifest unto all men. 2. Those that scorn judgments cannot escape them, Pro 19:28. The unbelief of man shall not make God's threatenings of no effect; those that devour iniquity swallow the hook with the bait. The civil magistrate has judgments prepared for scorners, for otherwise he would bear the sword in vain; but if he be remiss, and connive at sin, yet God's judgments slumber not; they are prepared, Mat 25:41.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

Their punishment is sure, fixed, and ready (compare Pro 3:34; Pro 10:13).

Next: Proverbs Chapter 20

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 29. Stripes for the back of fools.] Profane and wicked men expose themselves to the punishments denounced against such by just laws. Avoid, therefore, both their company and their end.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Judgments are prepared for scorners.—(Comp. Pro_19:25.)

Fools.—See above on Pro_1:22.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Judgments are prepared for scorners,.... Either by the civil magistrate, or by the Lord, and indeed by both; and if they miss the one, they will certainly meet the other; though they mock at present punishment and a future judgment, yet everlasting fire is prepared for them, Mat 25:41;

and stripes for the back of fools; as scorners are; which shall be inflicted on them sooner or later; if they are not stricken with the stripes of men, they shall endure the strokes of divine justice and vengeance hereafter.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 20

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Hammers, (Symmachus) "punishments." (Septuagint) See Judges v. 25. (Calmet)

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).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Prepared, either by men, or at least by God; although they: be deferred for a thee, yet they are treasured up for them, and shall infallibly be inflicted upon them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

29. Judgments are prepared for scorners — This may relate to the preceding proverb, and threaten the punishment due to the crimes of those who have no regard for truth and justice. Compare Pro_14:3; Pro_26:3. The Septuagint, however, has here a good temperance proverb, which seems to connect this passage with the next chapter: namely, “Scourges are preparing for the intemperate, and punishments likewise for fools.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Judgments are prepared for scorners (see on ver. 25). The judgments here are those inflicted by the providence of God, as in Pro_3:34. Scorners may deride and affect to scorn the judgments of God and man, but they are warned that retribution awaits them. And stripes for the back of fools; Vulgate, Et mallei percutientes stultorum corporibus. (comp. Pro_10:13:26:3) We had the word here rendered "stripes" (twOmWlhm, mahalumoth ) in Pro_18:6. The certainty of punishment in the case of transgressors is a truth often insisted on even by heathens. Examples will occur to all readers, from the old Greek oracle, Oudeipwn adikwn tisin ouk apotisei , to Horace"s "Raro antecedentem scelestum," etc. (See on Pro_20:30, where, however, the punishment is of human infliction)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Prepared - Although they be deferred for a time, yet they are treasured up for them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

29 Judgments are prepared for scorners,

And stripes for the backs of fools.

שׁפמים never means punishment which a court of justice inflicts, but is always used of the judgments of God, even although they are inflicted by human instrumentality (vid., Ch2 24:24); the singular, which nowhere occurs, is the segolate n. act. שׁפט = שׁפוט, Ch2 20:9, plur. שׁפוּטים. Hitzig's remark: "the judgment may, after Pro 19:25, consist in stripes," is misleading; the stroke, הכּות, there is such as when, e.g., a stroke on the ear is applied to one who despises that which is holy, which, under the circumstances, may be salutary; but it does not fall under the category of shephuthim, nor properly under that of מהלמות. The former are providential chastisements with which history itself, or God in history, visits the despiser of religion; the latter are strokes which are laid on the backs of fools by one who is instructing them, in order, if possible, to bring them to thought and understanding. נכון, here inflected as Niph., is used, as Job 15:23, as meaning to be placed in readiness, and thus to be surely imminent. Regarding mahalǔmoth, vid., at Pro 18:6.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Kretzmann's Popular Commentary

Paul E. Kretzmann

v. 29. Judgments are prepared for scorners, their verdict of condemnation is ready, and stripes for the back of fools, for their punishment also is inevitable, since the just God will not be mocked.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

are prepared for the scorners The Holy One, blessed be He, prepared punishments of zaraath for this scorner who slanders.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Proverbs, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mahălummâh (“blows”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “blows” (mahălummâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Proverbs 18:6 shares the word «blows» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «נָכ֣וֹנוּ» is Niphal Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 7 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 13 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.