Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Proverbs 23:13

12 Don't be afraid to correct your young ones; a spanking won't kill them. A good spanking, in fact, might save them from something worse than death.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Children;   Hell;   Parents;   Thompson Chain Reference - Correction;   Discipline;   Family;   Fathers;   Home;   Punishment;   Social Duties;   Temperance;   Temperance-Intemperance;   The Topic Concordance - Chastisement;   Deliverance;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Parents;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Rod;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Discipline;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Heart;   Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Flogging;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Boyhood ;   Education;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Scourge;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Education;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Don’t withhold discipline from a youth;if you punish him with a rod, he will not die.
Hebrew Names Version
Don't withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
King James Version
Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
English Standard Version
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
New American Standard Bible
Do not withhold discipline from a child; Though you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
New Century Version
Don't fail to punish children. If you spank them, they won't die.
Amplified Bible
Do not withhold discipline from the child; If you swat him with a reed-like rod [applied with godly wisdom], he will not die.
World English Bible
Don't withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Withhold not correction from the childe: if thou smite him with the rodde, he shall not die.
Legacy Standard Bible
Do not withhold discipline from the child,Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
Berean Standard Bible
Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Contemporary English Version

-12-

Don't fail to correct your children. You won't kill them by being firm,
Complete Jewish Bible
Don't withhold discipline from a child — if you beat him with a stick, he won't die!
Darby Translation
Withhold not correction from the child; for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die:
Easy-to-Read Version
Always correct children when they need it. If you spank them, it will not kill them.
George Lamsa Translation
Do not withhold chastisement from a child; for if you beat him, he will not die.
Good News Translation

-12-

Don't hesitate to discipline children. A good spanking won't kill them.
Lexham English Bible
Do not withhold discipline from a child, if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.
Literal Translation
Do not withhold correction from a boy, for if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Witholde not correccion from ye childe, for yf thou beatest him wt the rodde, he shal not dye therof.
American Standard Version
Withhold not correction from the child; For if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
Bible in Basic English
Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Withhold not correction from the child; for though thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
King James Version (1611)
Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Withholde not correction from the chylde: for if thou beatest hym with the rodde, he shall not dye thereof:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Refrain not from chastening a child; for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
English Revised Version
Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Nile thou withdrawe chastisyng fro a child; for thouy thou smyte hym with a yerde, he schal not die.
Update Bible Version
Don't withhold correction from the child; [For] if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.
Webster's Bible Translation
Withhold not correction from the child: for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
New English Translation
Do not withhold discipline from a child; even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
New King James Version
Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
New Living Translation
Don't fail to discipline your children. The rod of punishment won't kill them.
New Life Bible
Do not keep from punishing the child if he needs it. If you beat him with the stick, he will not die.
New Revised Standard
Do not withhold discipline from your children; if you beat them with a rod, they will not die.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Do not withhold, from a child, correction, When thou smitest him with the rod, he shall not die:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
Revised Standard Version
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
Young's Literal Translation
Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

Contextual Overview

12

11

Give yourselves to disciplined instruction; open your ears to tested knowledge. 1312 Don't be afraid to correct your young ones; a spanking won't kill them. A good spanking, in fact, might save them from something worse than death. 1513 Dear child, if you become wise, I'll be one happy parent. My heart will dance and sing to the tuneful truth you'll speak.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 19:18, Proverbs 29:15, Proverbs 29:17

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 21:18 - when they 1 Samuel 3:13 - restrained them not 1 Kings 1:6 - had not Proverbs 22:15 - but Luke 15:18 - I have Ephesians 6:4 - but Hebrews 12:7 - endure

Cross-References

Genesis 23:5
The Hittites responded, "Why, you're no mere outsider here with us, you're a prince of God! Bury your dead wife in the best of our burial sites. None of us will refuse you a place for burial."
2 Samuel 24:24
But the king said to Araunah, "No. I've got to buy it from you for a good price; I'm not going to offer God , my God, sacrifices that are no sacrifice." So David bought the threshing floor and the ox, paying out fifty shekels of silver. He built an altar to God there and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. God was moved by the prayers and that was the end of the disaster.
Romans 13:8
Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don't sleep with another person's spouse, don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can't go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
Colossians 4:5
Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.
Hebrews 13:5
Don't be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you," we can boldly quote, God is there, ready to help; I'm fearless no matter what. Who or what can get to me?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Withhold not correction from the child,.... When he has committed a fault, and correction is necessary; for to spare it is the ruin of the child, and no proof of true affection in the parent, but the reverse; see Proverbs 13:24;

for, [if] thou beatest him with a rod, he shall not die; if he be beaten moderately, there is no danger of his dying under the rod, or with the stripes given him; besides, such moderate and proper corrections may be a means of preserving him from such crimes as would bring him to a shameful and untimely death, and so he shall not die such a death; and by such means, through the grace of God, he may escape the second, or eternal death.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

i. e., “You will not kill your son by scourging him, you may kill him by with holding the scourge.”

Proverbs 23:14

Hell - Sheol, the world of the dead.


 
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