What Does Proverbs 20:29 Mean in the King James?
The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.
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
Strength adorns youth and gray hair adorns age: the verse gives each season its own splendor.
THE MEANING
Your worth is not held to one season of life. Strength gives youth its distinction; the gray head gives age its own beauty, so splendor changes form without disappearing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that your value fades when your strength fades dissolves here: the verse names the gray head as beauty, not as lost worth.
THE ROOT
תִּפְאֶרֶת
tif'eret
GROWS FROM
פאר
To adorn, beautify, or bring splendor.
The word translated “glory” belongs to the language of adornment. Strength is youth’s adornment, while the verse gives age its own distinct beauty.
ALSO GROWS
pa'ar: To adorn, beautify, or glorify.
פָּאַר
The verb shows that glory carries the sense of being adorned, not only possessing status.
pe'er: An adornment or headdress.
פְּאֵר
This concrete form of the root makes the verse’s glory feel like visible splendor rather than an abstract prize.
הֲדַר
hadar
GROWS FROM
הדר
Splendor, honor, or adornment; as a verb, to honor.
The word for the gray head’s beauty also carries the sense of honor. The same root appears in a command to honor the face of an old person, linking age’s visible sign with dignity.
ALSO GROWS
hadar: Splendor or majesty.
הָדָר
This noun names the elder’s gray head as a form of splendor.
vehadarta: You shall honor.
וְהָדַרְתָּ
Leviticus 19:32 uses this related form for honoring the face of an old person, echoing the dignity this verse gives age.
THE PATTERN
Each season of life bears its own honor and fruit; neither youth nor age monopolizes human worth.
The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.THE THREAD
And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.Isaiah uses the same word, שֵׂיבָה (seivah), meaning old age or gray hair, rendered here as “hoar hairs.” Proverbs names that sign of age as beauty; Isaiah describes it as a season still carried.
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