Proverbs 30:22

King James Version with Strong's Numbers

For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

תַּֽחַת־עֶ֭בֶד כִּ֣י יִמְל֑וֹךְ וְ֝נָבָ֗ל כִּ֣י יִֽשְׂבַּֽע־לָֽחֶם׃

Transliteration

taḥat-ʿebed kî yimlôḵ wenābāl kî yiśbaʿ-lāḥem

Grammar Details

• *taḥat*: preposition - under/because of
• *ʿebed*: masculine singular noun - servant/slave
• *kî*: conjunction - when/if
• *yimlôḵ*: qal imperfect, third masculine singular - he reigns/becomes king
• *wenābāl*: conjunction + masculine singular adjective/noun - and a fool
• *yiśbaʿ*: qal imperfect, third masculine singular - he is satisfied with
• *lāḥem*: masculine singular noun - bread/food

Word Meanings

• *nābāl*: fool/senseless person/base person
• *yiśbaʿ*-*lāḥem*: is filled/satisfied with food/has plenty to eat

Referenced Verses

• Prov 19:10 : 10 Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
• Eccl 10:7 : 7 I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
• Isa 3:4-5 : 4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
• Prov 28:3 : 3 A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
• 1 Sam 25:3 : 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
• 1 Sam 25:10-11 : 10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. 11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?
• 1 Sam 25:25 : 25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
• 1 Sam 25:36-38 : 36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.
• 1 Sam 30:16 : 16 And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.