The Meaning of Proverbs 30:12 Explained

Proverbs 30:12

KJV: There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.

YLT: A generation -- pure in their own eyes, But from their own filth not washed.

Darby: there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness;

ASV: There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, And yet are not washed from their filthiness.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

[There is] a generation  [that are] pure  in their own eyes,  and [yet] is not washed  from their filthiness. 

What does Proverbs 30:12 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 30:12 mean?

[There is] a generation [that is] pure in its own eyes and [Yet] from its filthiness not is washed
דּ֭וֹר טָה֣וֹר בְּעֵינָ֑יו וּ֝מִצֹּאָת֗וֹ לֹ֣א רֻחָֽץ

דּ֭וֹר  [There  is]  a  generation 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: דֹּור 
Sense: period, generation, habitation, dwelling.
טָה֣וֹר  [that  is]  pure 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: טָהֹור  
Sense: pure, clean.
בְּעֵינָ֑יו  in  its  own  eyes 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, cdc, third person masculine singular
Root: עֹונָה 
Sense: eye.
וּ֝מִצֹּאָת֗וֹ  and  [Yet]  from  its  filthiness 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m, Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: צֹאָה  
Sense: filth, excrement.
רֻחָֽץ  is  washed 
Parse: Verb, Pual, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: רָחַץ  
Sense: to wash, wash off, wash away, bathe.