What Does Proverbs 24:21 Mean in the King James?
My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:
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 verse warns against entangling yourself with people whose defining pattern is change.
THE MEANING
Awe before the LORD and fear before the king sit side by side, each shaping how you meet authority. The verse also draws a boundary around your associations: the people you mingle with can pull you into their instability.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every association is harmless: company marked by continual change can draw you into its course.
THE ROOT
שׁוֹנִים
shonim
GROWS FROM
שנה
To repeat or do again; in this form, to change or alter.
“given to change” in this verse is shonim. The root holds repetition and alteration together: change can become a recurring pattern. The verse describes people by that pattern, not by a single change of mind.
ALSO GROWS
shanah: To repeat or do again; also to change or alter.
שָׁנָה
It is the verb behind shonim, showing the shared root beneath the phrase “given to change.”
mishneh: A second or double portion.
מִשְׁנֶה
This branch carries the root’s sense of repetition, illuminating how change in the verse is framed as a recurring quality.
תִּתְעָרָב
tit'arev
GROWS FROM
ערב
To mix or mingle.
“meddle” in this verse is tit'arev. The command is about becoming mixed in with a group, not merely noticing its behavior. The image makes association a kind of entanglement.
ALSO GROWS
arav: To mix or mingle.
עָרַב
This is the verb’s basic sense and makes the force of “meddle” concrete: joining oneself into the mix.
hit'arev: To mingle or involve oneself.
הִתְעָרֵב
This related form makes the personal involvement explicit, the verse warns against placing yourself among the changeable.
יְרָא
yera
GROWS FROM
ירא
To fear or stand in awe.
The same word reaches both the LORD and the king, while its shade shifts with whom you face: awe toward the LORD, fear toward the king. The verse keeps these responses in one sentence without collapsing them into the same relationship.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: Awe or fear.
יִרְאָה
This noun names the response the verse calls for toward the LORD.
mora: Dread or reverence.
מוֹרָא
This related word carries the weight of fear before authority, clarifying the force of the command toward the king.
THE PATTERN
Steadiness depends on rightly ordered reverence and on the company you allow to shape you.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.THE THREAD
For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.“Change” in Proverbs and “change” in Malachi come from the same Hebrew root, שנה. Malachi sets the LORD’s unchanging nature beside Proverbs’ warning about people marked by change, sharpening where this verse locates steadiness.
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