Proverbs 16:31 (LSB)

Passage

Gray hair is a crown of beauty; It is found in the way of righteousness.

Nearby Context

Proverbs 16:29 A man of violence entices his neighbor And leads him in a way that is not good.

Proverbs 16:30 He who winks his eyes does so to devise perverse things; He who compresses his lips brings evil to pass.

Proverbs 16:31 Gray hair is a crown of beauty; It is found in the way of righteousness.

Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his own spirit, than he who captures a city.

Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, But its every judgment is from Yahweh.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "gray", "hair", "crown", "beauty", "found", and "righteousness". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "gray" and "hair", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "He who winks his eyes does so..." into verse 32's "He who is slow to anger is...", so "gray" and "hair" belong inside that flow. In Proverbs context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "gray" and "hair" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.