What Does Proverbs 3:34 Mean?
Surely he scoffs at the scoffers, but he gives favor to the bowed.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.THE KEY
The Hebrew repeats לוץ (luts, “scorn”) in both “scorneth” and “scorners,” so the posture meets its own echo while favor is given to the lowly.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you now: scorn meets its own measure, while favor is given to the lowly. Lowliness here carries the sense of being bowed down or afflicted, not being worthless.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that contempt makes you untouchable is undone here: scorn meets opposition, while the lowly receive favor.
THE ROOT
לוץ
luts
GROWS FROM
לוץ
to scoff or mock
“scorneth / scorners” in this verse is luts. The verb and noun share the same root: the scorner and the act of scorn carry one seed. The Hebrew makes the scorner’s posture audible in the action itself, so the scorn meets its own echo.
ALSO GROWS
lets: scoffer
לֵץ
The noun names the person whose posture the verse says is met with scorn.
latson: mockery, scorn
לָצוֹן
This names the scorn itself, joining the person who scorns to the action in the verse.
עֲנָוִים
anawim
GROWS FROM
ענה
to be bowed down, humbled, or afflicted
“bowed” in this verse is anawim. Anawim can name the humble and the afflicted, the ones who have been brought low. Its related words keep humility connected to vulnerability, placing favor with those who are lowly rather than self-exalting.
ALSO GROWS
ʿani: poor, afflicted
עָנִי
This related word shows the vulnerability carried by the lowly in the verse.
ʿanavah: humility, meekness
עֲנָוָה
This names the humble posture associated with the anawim.
חֵן
chen
GROWS FROM
חנן
to show favor or act graciously
“gives favor” in this verse is chen. Chen means favor, something the verse says is given. Its root connects that gift to the act of showing favor: the lowly receive a relationship of favor, not a status they have to claim.
ALSO GROWS
chanan: to show favor, be gracious
חָנַן
The verb names the act behind the favor given in the verse.
chanun: gracious, favorable
חַנּוּן
This related form describes the one who shows favor.
THE PATTERN
Scorn and pride meet resistance, while the lowly are met with favor.
Though the LORD is lifted high, he sees the low ones, and the lofty he perceives from afar.A man's lifting up brings him low, but weight holds up the low in breath.But he gives greater favor. Therefore it says, God sets himself against those who lift themselves high, and gives favor to those made low.THE THREAD
The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.The “meek” here are עֲנָוִים (anawim), the same Hebrew word translated “lowly” in Proverbs 3:34. Isaiah directs good news to those bowed down, showing where the verse’s favor lands.
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