What Does Proverbs 17:21 Mean in the King James?
He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The second “fool” is נָבָל (nāḇāl), a withering fool, so this verse presents folly as something that can drain joy across a family bond.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into the living bond between parent and child: a child’s foolishness can become the parent’s grief. The father’s joy is not untouched by the child’s way.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a child’s folly affects only the child dissolves here: the verse says it reaches the father as sorrow and leaves him without joy.
THE ROOT
נָבָל
nāḇāl
GROWS FROM
נבל
n-b-l
To wither, fade, or droop; the root also carries the sense of disgraceful or foolish conduct.
The verse first uses כְּסִיל (kesîl, a fool), then נָבָל (nāḇāl, a withering or morally foolish one); the second word sharpens folly from poor judgment toward a collapse of character. English uses “fool” for both, hiding that shift.
ALSO GROWS
nāvēl: To wither, fade, or droop
נָבֵל
This verb makes the fading sense within nāḇāl visible: folly is pictured with the language of something losing its vitality.
nevalah: Folly, disgraceful conduct, or an outrage
נְבָלָה
This branch names folly as conduct with consequences beyond a person’s private judgment.
יֹלֵד
yōlēḏ
GROWS FROM
ילד
y-l-d
To bear, beget, or bring forth.
“begetteth” in this verse is yōlēḏ. The same root names both the act of bringing forth and the child brought forth. That shared seed holds parent and child within one verbal family as the verse joins the child’s folly to the father’s grief.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: Child or boy
יֶלֶד
The child is the one brought forth by the same root that describes begetting.
moledet: Birth, origin, or kindred
מוֹלֶדֶת
This branch extends the root from birth to the origin and kinship that birth establishes.
THE PATTERN
A child’s way of life reaches outward, entering the emotional life of the people bound to them.
The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.THE THREAD
Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.The word נָבָל (nāḇāl, fool) appears here as Nabal’s name, and Abigail says נְבָלָה (nevalah, folly) is with him. The name and the condition share the same root, making the connection between a person’s folly and its effect on those close to him plain.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us