What Does Proverbs 29:13 Mean in the King James?
The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes.
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 poor person and the deceitful man share one dependence: the LORD is the one who lights both their eyes.
THE MEANING
The poor person and the deceitful man meet under the same dependence: the LORD gives light to both their eyes. Their circumstances and character differ, yet their sight and life come from one giver.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that God’s sustaining gift belongs only to people with status or moral worth gives way before the image of the LORD lighting both sets of eyes.
THE ROOT
מֵאִיר
mēʾîr
GROWS FROM
אוֹר
ʾôr
to be light, shine, or give light
English “lighteneth” can sound like merely improving visibility, but מֵאִיר (mēʾîr, gives light) comes from the same root as אוֹר (ʾôr, light) itself. The verse presents one life-giving light reaching both sets of eyes; neither man’s circumstances nor character is its source.
ALSO GROWS
ʾôr: Light
אוֹר
The noun names what the LORD gives to both men’s eyes.
māʾôr: A body that bears or gives light
מָאוֹר
The same root can name a bearer of light, while this verse shows the LORD as the source lighting both eyes.
עֵינֵי
ʿênê
GROWS FROM
עַיִן
ʿayin
eye; also a spring or well
עֵינֵי (ʿênê, eyes of) rests on עַיִן (ʿayin, eye), a word also used for a spring or well. That shared word-picture makes the eyes openings that receive light, while the LORD remains the one who gives their seeing.
ALSO GROWS
ʿayin: The organ of sight
עַיִן
The verse locates the LORD’s gift in the eyes of both men.
ʿayin: A source or opening where water emerges
עַיִן
The same Hebrew word links the eye with an opening that receives or releases life-giving flow.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s sustaining light reaches across differences in status and moral standing.
Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.THE THREAD
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;Psalm 13:3 uses the same Hebrew אוֹר (ʾôr, light) root in “lighten mine eyes,” then sets that light against death. The proverb’s light carries the sense of life preserved as well as sight restored, and both men receive it.
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