Proverbs 20:29

20:29 The glory of young men is their strength,

and the splendor of old men is gray hair.

Proverbs 23:22

23:22 Listen to your father who begot you,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.


tn The Hebrew term תִּפְאֶרֶת (tiferet) means “beauty; glory”; in a context like this it means “honor” in the sense of glorying or boasting (BDB 802 s.v. 3.b).

tn The Hebrew term הֲדַר (hadar), the noun in construct, means “splendor; honor; ornament.” The latter sense is used here, since grey hair is like a crown on the head.

sn “Grey hair” is a metonymy of adjunct; it represents everything valuable about old age – dignity, wisdom, honor, experience, as well as worry and suffering of life. At the very least, since they survived, they must know something. At the most, they were the sages and elders of the people.