Proverbs 30:13

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וְ֝עַפְעַפָּ֗יו

ʻaphʻaph

H6079

“and · eyelids · his”

Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Dual, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 10× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Job 3:9

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H5774

TWOT: 1582b

eyelid - eyelid - of dawn, rays of sun (figuratively)

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 וְ֝עַפְעַפָּ֗יו eyelid H6079 — appearing just 10 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וְ֝עַפְעַפָּ֗יו eyelid H6079 occurs in 10 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
3 nouns
1 particle

Verb forms

רָמ֣וּ Qal · Perfect
יִנָּשֵֽׂאוּ Niphal · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 12 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 10 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 30:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Proverbs 6:17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood;
Isaiah 2:11 The lofty looks of man will be brought low, The haughtiness of men will be bowed down, And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
Psalms 101:5 I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won't tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.
Psalms 131:1 Yahweh, my heart isn't haughty, nor my eyes lofty; Nor do I concern myself with great matters, Or things too wonderful for me.
Proverbs 21:4 A high look, and a proud heart, The lamp of the wicked, is sin.
Isaiah 3:16 Moreover Yahweh said, "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, And walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, Walking to trip as they go, Jingling ornaments on their feet;
Ezekiel 28:2–5 Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you did set your heart as the heart of God;-
Ezekiel 28:9 Will you yet say before him who kills you, I am God? but you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.

Daniel 11:36–37 The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done.
Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

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 30:13 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

דּ֭וֹר מָה רָמ֣וּ עֵינָ֑יו וְ֝עַפְעַפָּ֗יו יִנָּשֵֽׂאוּ

There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Proverbs 30:13 Septuagint · lemma form

ἔκγονος κακός ὑψηλός ὀφθαλμός ἔχω ὁ δέ βλέφαρον αὐτός ἐπιαἴρω

A wicked generation have lofty eyes, and exalt themselves with their eyelids.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

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 30:13 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 30:13 [There is] a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

Ver. 13. Oh how lofty are their eyes.] The eyes are the seat of pride and disdain, which peep out at these windows. The Hebrews have a saying, that a man’s mind is soonest seen in oculis, in loculis, in poculis, in his eyes, expenses, cups. See Pro 6:17.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 13. The third, Those who were full of vanity, pride, and insolence.

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

John Gill's Exposition

There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. Above others, on whom they look with scorn and contempt; as those do who have more riches than others, and boast of them; they despise their poor neighbours, and disdain to look upon them: and such also who have more knowledge and wisdom than others, or at least think so; they are puffed up in their fleshly minds, and say of the illiterate or less knowing, as the proud Pharisees did, "this people, who knoweth not the law, are cursed": and likewise those who fancy themselves more holy and righteous than others; these, in a scornful manner, say, "stand by thyself, I am holier than thou"; and thank God they are not as other men are, as publicans and sinners; see Pro 19:4. Hence Pliny (i) says, that in the eyebrows there is a part of the mind; those especially show haughtiness; that pride has a receptacle elsewhere, but here it has its seat; it is bred in the heart, but here it comes and here it hangs: wherefore Juvenal (k) calls pride and haughtiness, "grande supercilium"; and proud haughty persons are said to be supercilious.

(i) Nat. Hist. 1. 11. c. 37. (k) Satyr. 6. v. 168.

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Who are proud and insolent, advancing themselves, and despising all others in comparison of themselves, and showing the pride of their hearts in their countenances and carriages.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

A generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes! The third sin is pride and arrogance. (see on Pro_6:17 Pro_21:4) "Lord," said the psalmist, "my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty". (Psa_131:1) The prophet rebukes "the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his high looks". (Isa_10:12) Their eyelids are lifted up; in supercilious disdain. "Inde Proverbio dicimus," says Erasmus ("Adag."), "attolli supercilium, fastidium indicantes" (s.v. "Arrogantia").

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

eyes are raised up ... their eyelids lifted up

This describes people who think that they are better than other people. Their eyes show that they are proud, and the way they look at others shows that they think they are better than those other people. (See: Metonymy)

There is a generation whose teeth are swords, and their jawbones are like knives, so they may devour the poor ... and the needy

The people of the generation who speak very harmful things is spoken of as if they were wild animals with teeth and jawbones made of swords and knives, and they eat the poor and needy. (See: Metaphor)

jawbones

the bones of the face where teeth grow

translationWords

generation

haughty

sword

devour

earth

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

A generation—how lofty etc. This refers to haughtiness.

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

Discussion questions

What does “eyelid” (ʻaphʻaph) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Job 3:9 shares the word «eyelid» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «רָמ֣וּ» is Qal Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 5 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.