Proverbs 23:14

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Punish him with the rod, And save his soul from Sheol.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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מִשְּׁא֥וֹל

shᵉʼôwl

H7585

“from · Sheol”

Preposition + Noun, Proper

Appears 66× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 37:35

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7592

TWOT: 2303c

sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit - the underworld - Sheol - the OT designation for the abode of the dead - place of no return - without praise of God - wicked sent there for punishment - righteous not abandoned to it - of the place of exile (figuratively) - of extreme degradation in sin

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

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
3 nouns
1 pronoun

Verb forms

תַּכֶּ֑נּוּ Hiphil · Imperfect
תַּצִּֽיל Hiphil · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 11 words from the Hebrew and 15 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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Proverbs 23:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: The rod of discipline drives it far from him.
1 Corinthians 5:5 are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians 11:32 But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

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 23:14 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אַ֭תָּה בַּשֵּׁ֣בֶט תַּכֶּ֑נּוּ וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ מִשְּׁא֥וֹל תַּצִּֽיל

Punish him with the rod, And save his soul from Sheol.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Proverbs 23:14 Septuagint · lemma form

σύ μέν γάρ πατάσσω αὐτός ῥάβδος ὁ δέ ψυχή αὐτός ἐκ θάνατος ῥύομαι

For you shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from death.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Pulpit 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 23:14 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 →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Pro 23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

Ver. 14. And shall deliver his soul frown hell.] Fond and foolish parents are peremptores potius quam parentes, {a} rather parricides than parents; since Qui non, cum potest, servat, occidit, by not saving their children they slay them; by cockering then, in their sin they pitch them headlong into hell.

{a} Bernard., Epist. 111.

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.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

That is, from destruction.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod] A proper correction of children was a favourite point of discipline with Solomon. We have already seen how forcibly he speaks on this subject. See the notes on the places referred to in the margin.

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

(14) And shalt deliver his soul from hell—i.e., Hades, the abode of the dead (Isa_14:9), death being the punishment of sin, and long life the reward of well-doing (Pro_3:2).

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

Thou shall beat him with the rod,.... Or, correct him with the stripes of the children of men, in a moderate and suitable manner, proportionable to the fault committed; and as he is able to bear it, both as to body and mind;

and shalt deliver his soul from hell; be a means of preventing those sins which would bring to hell and destruction; and of bringing to repentance for those committed; and so of saving his soul, which should be the chief thing parents should have in view in chastising their children; the salvation of whose souls should be dear unto them, as it is to all truly gracious and thoughtful ones.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Shalt deliver his soul from hell (sheol); de inferno, Vulgate; ek yanatou , Septuagint. Premature death was regarded as a punishment of sin, as long life was the reward of righteousness. Proper discipline preserves a youth not only from many material dangers incident to unbridled passions, but saves him from spiritual death, the decay and destruction of grace here, and the retribution that awaits the sinner in another world (comp. Ecclus, 30:1-12).

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

Scofield Reference Notes

C. I. Scofield

hell

Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Kretzmann's Popular Commentary

Paul E. Kretzmann

v. 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, with severe punishment, if necessary, and shalt deliver his soul from hell, for the correction will result in blessing to the child, in keeping him from worse transgressions and thus becoming a victim of death in sins. Pro 3:27; Pro 19:18; Pro 22:15.

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

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 shᵉʼôwl (“Sheol”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “Sheol” (shᵉʼôwl) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Proverbs 22:15, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«תַּכֶּ֑נּוּ» is a Hiphil Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.