Classic KJV - Proverbs 11:29

This warning is addressed to potential inheritors: Sons and daughters. It states that offspring will risk their inheritances by making trouble among their family members. Most parents will divvy up their legacies equally, regardless of their children’s behaviour, but the text seems to imply that the inheritances should be discerned and custom-made, perhaps as a tool of reward and discipline.

Translation: Troubles

The Hebrew word for “troubles” here, עוכר (ʽô•ḵěr, pronounced “oh-kare”) literally means “the one who troubles.” It’s a broad term, also translated as “the one who brings distress,” and it’s first used in Genesis 34:30, when Simeon and Levi cause trouble to their father Jacob by massacring an entire town of strangers, for the rape of their sister. Jacob’s final blessing to them, recorded in Genesis 49:5-7, was certainly not good. Their anger cost them their father’s blessing.

Trouble can take many forms: Unreliability, dishonesty, gossip, criticism, sarcasm, and anger to name a few. Our “own house” or household should be our powerhouse of effort and haven of refuge. Those who divide the household sap its productive potential. Jesus said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” Matthew 12:25.

What Wind?

Is the “wind” here describing a devastating hurricane or tornado? The text isn’t clear. At a minimum, we know that domestic upheaval causes damage.

Sometimes the Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit as “wind” (John 3:8, John 20:22, Acts 2:2-4). So someone could read the text as saying, “Those, who for the sake of the gospel, cause trouble in their own house, may inherit no tangible family legacy, but will receive the wind or Spirit of God to meet all their needs.” This is a possible reading, since the text does not say, “Those who trouble their house will inherit nothing at all.” Receiving God’s Spirit is the greatest treasure, the gift of life from the Father.

However, this reading of “wind” as the Holy Spirit (reading backward from the New Testament) is a bit of a stretch. It really does not fit with the second part of the proverb, speaking of the cost of foolishness. Family troubles cause financial upheavals, even among multi-billionaires (without naming any names).

A Sad Ending

Unwise, unruly, or discontented men can do immeasurable harm to a family or a church community. These are the men who pick unnecessary fights. They impose unreasonable measures on their own families, and stir up unhealthy emotions in all those around them. Such men do not manage their own households well, and will no doubt see their family legacies dissipate into divorce, economic bankruptcy, teenage rebellion, and general ignominy. After a lifetime of heartache, what a tragedy to find some of these men abandoned by their families and dying alone, perhaps even euthanized in a government-subsidized rest home for the elderly and indigent! He that troubles his house inherits the wind.¹

Our Maker, Saviour, and Friend

Jesus did not trouble His own house.

Jesus did not trouble His earthly home, since He submitted to His parents’ wishes as an adolescent (Luke 2:51) and as a young man—to age 30. Although rejected prior to His resurrection by His earthly brothers, He perfectly fulfilled His earthly father’s wishes, doing only those things of which His Heavenly Father approved (John 5:30, 8:28).

And Jesus will inherit all things in Heaven and on Earth (Ephesians 1:10).

1. Generations Family Devotional December 31,2021.  https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#search/11%3A29/FMfcgzGmtFDpwLmdgSCXlrVTWgvtxwxM