The Meaning of Proverbs 30:11 Explained

Proverbs 30:11

KJV: There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.

YLT: A generation is, that lightly esteemeth their father, And their mother doth not bless.

Darby: There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother;

ASV: There is a generation that curse their father, And bless not their mother.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

[There is] a generation  [that] curseth  their father,  and doth not bless  their mother. 

What does Proverbs 30:11 Mean?

Context Summary

Proverbs 30:1-17 - The Advice Of A Shrewd Observer
This chapter contains a collection of sayings of one person, Agur, of whom we know nothing further. It is supposed that he lived after the return from the Exile. The opening verses of the chapter may be thus rendered: "The utterance of the man who has questioned and thought." I have wearied after God, I have wearied after God, and am faint; for I am too stupid for a man, and am without reason, and I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the All-Holy."
Agur answers his complaint in Proverbs 30:5-9. You cannot know God by your own discovery, but He will make Himself known to you through the written Word, to which no addition may be made, Proverbs 30:6. See also John 1:18, which shows our clearest revelation of Him. But there are two conditions: We must put away vanity and lies; and we must be satisfied with God's arrangement of our daily food. Notice the following quatrain, Proverbs 30:11-14, which is descriptive of four kinds of evil men: the unfilial, the self-righteous, the haughty, and the rapacious. The next quatrain, Proverbs 30:15-16, treats of "the insatiable;" and this is followed by a further description of the doom of the disobedient: strong, wise, shrewd, and sanctified sense. [source]

Chapter Summary: Proverbs 30

1  Agur's confession of his faith
7  The two points of his prayer
10  The meanest are not to be wronged
11  Four wicked generations
15  Four things insatiable
24  four things exceeding wise
29  Four things stately
32  Wrath is to be prevented

What do the individual words in Proverbs 30:11 mean?

[There is] a generation its father [that] curses and its mother not does bless
דּ֭וֹר אָבִ֣יו יְקַלֵּ֑ל וְאֶת־ אִ֝מּ֗וֹ לֹ֣א יְבָרֵֽךְ

דּ֭וֹר  [There  is]  a  generation 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: דֹּור 
Sense: period, generation, habitation, dwelling.
אָבִ֣יו  its  father 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: אָב  
Sense: father of an individual.
יְקַלֵּ֑ל  [that]  curses 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: קָלַל  
Sense: to be slight, be swift, be trifling, be of little account, be light.
אִ֝מּ֗וֹ  its  mother 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: אֵם  
Sense: mother.
יְבָרֵֽךְ  does  bless 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: בָּרַךְ 
Sense: to bless, kneel.