Proverbs 16:31

31 Old age is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness.

Proverbs 16:31 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 16:31

The hoary head [is] a crown of glory
Gray hairs, white locks through age are very ornamental; look very beautiful, bespeak gravity, wisdom, and prudence, and command reverence and respect; with the ancient Romans F19, greater honour was paid to age than to family or wealth; and the elder were revered by the younger next to God, and in the stead of parents; (See Gill on Leviticus 19:32); [if] it be found in the way of righteousness;
that is, if such who are old and stricken in years are like Zacharias and Elisabeth, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless; when they are found in Christ, having on his righteousness; and when they live soberly, righteously, and godly; when they walk in the ways of God and true religion; keep up family worship, and private devotion; as well as constantly attend the ministry of the word and ordinances; then are they very venerable and respectable; their old age is a good old age; and in a short time they shall have the crown of glory which fadeth not away: but otherwise a sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed; an old man in the open ways of sin and vice, laden with iniquity, is a very contemptible and shocking sight.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 Vid. A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 2. c. 15.

Proverbs 16:31 In-Context

29 The evil man flatters his neighbour and leads him into the way that is not good.
30 He shuts his eyes to devise perverse things; moving his lips he brings evil to pass.
31 Old age is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness.
32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city.
33 The lot is cast into the lap, but the judgment thereof is of the LORD.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010