Bible Strands
Proverbs 17:25
A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author addresses a general audience within a wisdom collection, placing this saying between a warning about the fool's scattered focus and a legal principle regarding unjust punishment.
The words — כְּסִ֑יל (ke.Sil) denotes a persistent fool, while כַּ֣עַס (Ka.'as) literally means grief or anger. These terms frame the son's character and the resulting domestic rupture.
The thread — The motif of the foolish son causing parental distress recurs in Proverbs 10:1 and Proverbs 15:20, while the breakdown of family loyalty finds a narrative parallel in 2 Samuel 13:1.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that reckless behavior actively damages familial bonds rather than merely offending personal preference. It requires readers to weigh their actions against the concrete relational cost they produce.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 10:1 The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.
- 2 Samuel 13:1 After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.
- Proverbs 15:20 A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
- Proverbs 19:13 A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.
- Ecclesiastes 2:18 I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.