Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Proverbs 22:29 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 29. 29Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse uses two-part parallelism to place “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand…” beside “he shall not stand before mean men”.
Do not move the ancient landmark your fathers set
This verse is one part of that explanation in Proverbs 22:28–29. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Proverbs 22:28–29
Read Proverbs 22:29 with 22:28–29. Read alone, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand…” could turn a compressed observation, warning, comparison, or command into a guarantee or complete policy. The full unit establishes: contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set”; by 22:29, it uses two-part parallelism to place “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand…” beside “he shall not stand before mean men”. Together the unit concentrates on justice, truthful judgment, and protection from exploitation, work, diligence, provision, and creaturely limits within “Sayings of the wise.”
Why This Verse Appears Here
Proverbs 22:28–29 intensifies the warning in “Wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power — Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them…” by carrying “Justice, truthful judgment, and protection from exploitation — Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have…” within the same sustained discourse, admonition, numbered form, or poem. Within that relationship, this verse uses two-part parallelism to place “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand…” beside “he shall not stand before mean men”.
What Remains True
Diligent, skillful work is normally fruitful, yet outcomes also depend on health, opportunity, justice, weather, and other conditions beyond one worker's control. In Proverbs 22:29, that bounded truth is expressed through “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand…,” not through a promise detached from its literary form.
How It Can Shape Life
- Plan sustainable effort, practice the relevant skill, share burdens fairly, and address structural obstacles rather than judging only the outcome. Proverbs 22:29 names that responsibility through “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand…,” so the response must remain accountable to the person, action, comparison, or consequence in this line.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Proverbs 22:28–29 — Justice, truthful judgment, and protection from exploitation — Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have…Sources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: Proverbs 22:28–29, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Proverbs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 22:28-22:29
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Proverbs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
Exact location: NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1148-1152, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 22:28–29
Open source ↗