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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 20:29 - 20:29
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29 The ornament of young men is their strength;
And the honour of the old is grey hairs.
Youth has the name בַּחוּר (different from בָּחוּר, chosen), of the maturity (R. בחר, cogn. בכר, בגר, whence Mishn. בַּגְרוּת, manhood, in contradistinction to נַֽעֲרוּת) into which he enters from the bloom of boyhood; and the old man is called זָקֵן (Arab. dhikn, as Schultens says, a mento pendulo, from the hanging chin זָקָן, (Arab.) dhakan, chin, beard on the chin). To stand in the fulness of fresh unwasted strength is to youth, as such, an ornament (תִּפְאֶרֶת, cf. פָּארוּר, blooming colour of the countenance); on the contrary, to the old man who has spent his strength in the duties of his office, or as it is said at Pro 16:31, “in the way of righteousness,” grey hairs (שֵׂיבָה, from שָׂב, Arab. shâb, canescere) give an honourable appearance (הָדָר, from הָדַר, turgidum, amplum esse, vid., at Isa 63:1).