"Biblical spanking": Why the rod verses in Proverbs are repealed verses

Many parents think that the Bible is a pro-spanking document. The most common verses cited by pro-spanking advocates are in the book of Proverbs. Most people think that these verses are pro-spanking in terms of interpretation. However, this claim sits on shaky ground. These 6 rod verses are repealed verses.

One of the most commonly cited rod verses is Proverbs 13:24 KJV:

He that spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

The Hebrew word translated "son" is ben and refers here to a mature adult son. The Hebrew word translated "rod" is shebet and refers to, in the context of the book of Proverbs, to a switch applied to the bare back. Ultimately, this passage refers to a form of judicial corporal punishment known as the 40 minus 1 lashes, with the father deputized by the Sanhedrin to physically punish his errant son. However, striking another Jew outside of a courtroom setting was considered unlawful then. Striking a minor child at all was unlawful as well then. The only reason for this commandment is that, otherwise, fathers would refuse to whip his son. Jewish parents then were naturally the type to shield their children from authority, even to a fault.

Christ did away with these harsh punishments with His Work on the cross. One of these punishments is the 40 minus 1 lashes. Christ Himself suffered the 40 minus 1 lashes unjustly, before being executed unjustly. With this evidence, we can conclude that the rod verses in Proverbs are repealed verses. 

Proverbs 13:24 does not refer to a biblical spanking. However, God does weigh in on the spanking issue. See Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers here to damages or offenses, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement, with this entitlement including any parent anger directed towards children. It is not enough to stop spanking or punishing your child - you need to avoid offense in your child. Offensive avoidance with children is the same as offense avoidance with other adults - give a meaningful apology whenever you hurt the feelings of another. Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent in parents, such as when a child is upset by a set limit. However, if you ever set a limit out of anger or haste, you should definitely give a formal apology to your child, and then commit never to ever lose your cool with your child, as losing your cool with your child at all is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicted a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin term roughly translating to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions on children, such as spanking and other forms of punishment of children. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men.

All of the biblical writers wrote about parenting in their secular writings, in the form of parenting manuals. These parenting manuals were written to recommend attachment parenting. Even King Solomon wrote several attachment parenting manuals for the little ones. Attachment parenting was the conventional parenting of Ancient Israel, with Jews even today being attachment parents. All punitive parenting is currently banned in modern Israel.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast forever into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Hebrews 12:5-6: Why this passage is not a pro-spanking passage

Many parents use the Bible in order to justify their "right" to spank or otherwise punish their children. The core for this theological argument is Heb. 12:5-6. This verse is common misused to justify corporal punishment for children. However, this interpretation of Heb. 12:5-6 sits on shaky ground. The Bible is an anti-spanking document, contrary to popular belief.

God's Word states in Hebrews 12:5-6 KJV:

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

When understood properly, this passage is comforting to me. The Greek root word translated "scourgeth" is μαστιγόω (Latin: mastigoó) and has a figurative meaning to it. This sort of language that mentioned the rod was known as rod language. In the Early Church, when you had a long day at work, you instead said "God whipped me hard today". God does not literally descend in order to whip His children, obviously. However, God does punish His children, like only He can, sending trials and tribulations the way of the ones He loves the most. This passage was intended to comfort the Hebrew Christians in their persecution of Rome.

God does not want earthly parents to copy His Parenting example. This is because God only punishes His children when it does not harm them, whereas earthly parents only punish their children when it does, in fact, harm the child. God does not weigh in on an actual spanking in Heb. 12:5-6, but the Bible does, in fact, refer to spanking and other forms of child punishment, and expands upon it. See Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers here to any offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement. It is not enough to stop spanking or punishing children - you need to avoid offense in children. Avoiding offense in children is the same as avoid offense in other adults - give a meaningful apology whenever you hurt your child's feelings. Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent, including when parent set a limit that upsets children. However, if you ever set a limit out of anger or haste as a parent, you should definitely give a formal apology to your child when you lose your cool with them, as losing your cool alone with your child is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the God mentioned offense avoidance explicitly in a parenting verse because it is especially important in God's eyes to treat children with respect and not abuse them. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin term roughly translated to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions onto children, such as spanking or other forms of punishment. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men. Spanking or other forms of punitive parenting, alongside anything perceived as abusive by a child, was considered child abuse in the Early Church, in fact.

The staple punishment against children in Ancient Greece was a spanking to the bare bottom with an open hand. Such parents infiltrated the Early Christian churches with their punitive parenting customs. However, the Apostle Paul would have none of it in the churches that he oversaw, and sent the parishes at Colossae and Ephesus commandments in his Epistles to stop the punishment against children.

Parent anger directed towards children was always considered wrong in the context of the Bible. Most parenting in the Early Church was motivated by worry or concern. The only anger allowed in parenting was to protect a child from a sexual interloper or other abuser of children. However, if you ever got angry at your child then, it was seen as akin to a viper lashing out at its prey - maybe the child was given a warning, but that's about it.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast forever into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Pedophilic children: How to accommodate your pedophilic child

Many parents worry about their child being sexually abused by child predators. However, most parents don't bank on their child being a pedophile themselves. It can be easy to notice as a parent in your child. However, pedophilic children have two strikes against them - they are both a child and a pedophile. 

If you know what, or rather who, a pedophile is, you wouldn't hate them. A pedophile is not an anger packet directed towards children. Instead, a pedophile is an individual with a preferential sexual attraction towards children under age 14. Most pedophilia comes with a form of immature autism that specializes in children in terms of knowledge and social preference. If you see an autistic male get along with children as second nature, think pedophile, but the right kind. Most autistic adults find children "annoying" and "too noisy". If they actually seek out the company of children, they are definitely pedophiles.

Pedophilic children need gentle parenting in order to recover from their pedophilic mental heath disorder. This means a shoulder to lean on in a parent, with parents being accountability partners with their children. An accountability partner is an adult that a pedophilic child can run to for support and accountability in not sexually offending against a child.

My mother gets my pedophilic disorder. She allows for me to have "private time" in my bedroom whenever I want it or whenever I need it. Righteous masturbation, as an acronym, refers to masturbation without pornography for health reasons. A pedophile who explores their child fantasies is the least likely to sexually abuse a child. Lust in adults comes from unmet sexual needs. The only way out of lust is in through masturbation without pornography.

Most pedophilic offenses are due to sexual curiosity in the pedophilic adult. Thus, these children need extensive sex education from their mother especially. This sex education usually involves a conversation about the birds and the bees, not a singular talk. My mother was there to use for that purpose when I needed to vent about child crushes, or else when I needed a shoulder to lean on. What would help, if you don't want to have the talk with your child, that they explore body positivity literature designed for children. But, the talk should still happen for pedophilic children. 

Pedophile stigma is a form of mental health stigma directed towards pedophiles, with the stigma being on the admit level. It is a myth that we at survivors created the stigma against pedophiles. Instead, the stigma came from an empirical decree from Emperor Constantine that anyone who admits to attraction to children lose all of their friends and family. Viennese psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing coined the term "pedophile" as a way for adults attracted to children to have a way to admit to their attractions without shame. Pedophiles in biblical times were given the role of foster parent to take in children that nobody else would care for. Survivors lifted up an existing prejudice against pedophiles, but did so in order to be proven wrong. The Uncle Orange only had a few pedophiles, and they never raped anybody. The survivors wanted those pedophiles on their side.

The American children's rights movement allows for pro-pedophile advocates. All that means is that you are going after the same animal, but instead call it something different. Most child rapists or sexual abusers are not pedophiles. I interview trauma survivors about their trauma, and almost all of their abusers were attracted to women in a womanizing kind of way. Most pedophilic abusers either are obvious about their attractions and/or committed rape while having a low IQ. If you say your abuser preferred women, then they don't deserve the label of pedophilia as an excuse. I myself was a pedophilic abuser, and I was obvious about it. I mainly committed street harassment, and also sexual harassment against my female cousin in the attic of my grandparents'. That course of conduct led to an investigation for an alleged rape. I never raped anyone in my life, but there usually is a kernel of truth to any false allegation. I am currently cooperating with the police in the course of this investigation. I mention the investigation for full transparency reasons. The police will surely be reading this post, so why not just be honest. Anyone can interrogate me to protect a child, and I will simply answer to their court, and plead "yea" or "nay", accepting the consequences of my plea. 

The depraved and entitled parents who sexually shame their pedophilic children will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them descend into torrents of Hell-fire, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Repent!

Expanding child abuse definitions: Why the Bible calls for broadening child abuse definitions

Many parents think that the ancients in the Bible had no concept of childhood, let alone child abuse. Most American parents support today's child abuse definitions. However, the fact of the matter is that the Bible has its own definition of child abuse - whatever the child perceives as abuse. 

The Greek root word denoting parental entitlement is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and is defined as, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Unofficially speaking, parental entitlement consists of a parent that is sorely disappointed when they don't get what they feel that they deserve from children. Parents are deserving of absolutely from children nothing just for existing. Even any parent anger directed towards children was seen as parental entitlement in the Early Church. Whenever this sense of entitlement in parents was perceived by a child as offensive or damaging, it was deemed child abuse. See also Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged

The Greek root word translates "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, including, but not included to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement. The key to not abusing your child is to avoid offense in children. Avoiding offense in children is the same as avoiding offense in other adults - be willing to apologize whenever you cause hurt feelings in another. Usually, this apology in parents should come in the form of reassurance of good intent, such as when an ordinary limit coming from parents upsets the child. However, if you ever set a limit out of anger or haste, you should definitely give a formal apology for losing your cool with your child, then with you committing never to lose your cool with your child ever again, as losing your cool with your child alone is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul mentioning offense avoidance in parents specifically because some Greek Christian parents brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin term translating roughly to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions on children, such as spanking or other punishment of children. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. Attachment parenting was banned in the Early Church, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men. 

The Greek root word translated "they be discouraged" is αθυμέω (Latin: athumeo) and refers here to long-term damages, namely childhood trauma. Whenever a child lost heart, and became an atheist, blame fell on the parents for being too punitive with their children. Atheism was not seen as a choice then, but a reaction to being abused as a child. 

The ancients even had a concept of child sexual abuse. The Greek root word translated "fornication" is πορνεία (Latin: porneia) and refers here to any sexual advances perceived by a child, even if the child liked it. Sex was not seen as a right in biblical times, but instead was seen as duties in a marriage between one adult man and one adult woman. Apart from that, adults masturbated to thoughts of children for health reasons, meaning to stay out of trouble. Pornography of anyone was seen as contraband in the Early Church, including that which depicts children. Child sexual abuse was rare in biblical times, meaning next to non-existent. 

Child abuse cases in the Early Church were investigated by a council of three elders. Usually, an investigation started with a child confiding in a clergyperson. From there, the council called the parents to testify in court. If the parents defended themselves instead of answered to the court for their actions, they were swiftly excommunicated for their entitlement towards their child. The child was usually taken in by relatives, but when nobody stepped up to the plate, the child was taken in by the first pedophile that the child ran to. The child protection pedophiles then never sexually abused the child, but instead nursed the child back to health, meaning lactating at the most. 

The Bible is an anti-spanking document. All 88 books of the Bible - from Genesis to Revelation - were penned by Jews, with no Jew worth mentioning ever defending the right of a parent to punish their child. Even King Solomon recommended attachment parenting in his secular writings, with the rod of correction referring to the 40 minus 1 lashes. Striking another Jew outside of a courtroom setting was seen as an offense in the Old Testament, with children being immune to all charges, at least while still being children.

America is a Christian nation, founded on Judeo-Christian family values. We as a society glean from the Bible in order to learn how to behave as a society, and treat each other with respect. It just so happens that the parenting literature in the biblical context was not translated into English from the Hebrew until the 1960s. That parenting literature recommended attachment parenting, not training a child with punishments.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast forever into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torrents, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Child abuse definitions: Why the Bible calls for more laws on the books protecting children

Many parents think that the ancients in the Bible had no understanding of childhood, let alone childhood. This is a common belief amongst American parents. However, the ancients did have a concept of child abuse - whatever the child victim perceived as abuse. 

The Greek root word denoting parental entitlement is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and is defined as, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Unofficially speaking, parental entitlement consists of a parent being sorely disappointed when they don't get what they feel that they deserve from children. Parents are deserving of absolutely nothing from children just for existing. Any parent anger directed towards a child was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. Whenever this sense of entitlement in parents was perceived as offensive or damaging by a child, it was deemed child abuse. See also Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers here to offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement, with this entitlement including any parent anger directed towards children. Child abuse in the Bible, as a legal concept, consists of entitlement in , parents, leading to offense in children. The key to not abusing your child is to avoid offense in your child. However, hurt feelings in children are inevitable in parenting, and thus a parent should be willing to apologize whenever they hurt their child's feelings. Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent. However, if you ever lose your cool with your child as a parent, you should definitely apologize for losing your cool with your child, and then commit never to lose your cool with your child ever again, as losing your cool as a parent alone is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin term roughly translating to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions on a child, such as spanking or other forms of punishment of children. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men.

The Greek root word translated "they be discouraged" is αθυμέω (Latin: athumeo) and refers here to long-term damages, including trauma. The ancients in the Bible did have a basic concept of childhood trauma. Whenever children lost their faith in God, it was seen as a sign of child abuse, not a "lost soul" worth "winning over". 

The ancients even had a concept of child sexual abuse. The Greek root word translated "fornication" is πορνεία (Latin: porneia) and refers here to any sexual interaction between an adult and a child. Whenever children perceived sexual advances from an adult, it was deemed child sexual abuse, even if the child liked it. Child sexual abuse then was rare, meaning next to non-existent.

The Bible is an anti-spanking document. All 88 books of the Bible - from Genesis to Revelation - were written by Jews, with no Jew worth mentioning ever endorsing the punishment of children. Even King Solomon recommended attachment parenting for the little ones, with the rod in Proverbs referring to the 40 minus 1 lashes.

America is a Christian nation, founded on Judeo-Christian family values. We as a society glean from the Bible and its context in order to know how to live and treat each other with respect. Even our legal codes are based off of the Bible. It just so happens that the Jewish parenting literature was not translated into English from the Hebrew until the 1960s.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast forever into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torrents, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

"Benign deprivation": Why telling children "no" frequent and often is child abuse

Many parents buy into the doctrine of "benign" deprivation. What this means ultimately is that parents are to say "no" to children "frequent and often". Most American parents think that frequent use of the word "no" is necessary for children to hear. However, frequent use of the word "no" can be perceived as child abuse.

God's Law on child abuse is spelled out in Colossians 3:21 KJV: 

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers here to offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement, with this entitlement including any parent anger directed towards children. The key to not abusing your child is to avoid offense in a child. However, hurt feelings in children is inevitable in parenting, hence the need for parents to be willing to apologize whenever they hurt their child's feelings. One thing that hurts a child's feelings is the word "no". In most cases, children have meltdowns when they cannot accept the word "no". The idea is to give a meaningful apology whenever your child cannot accept the word "no". Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent. However, if you ever set a limit out of anger or haste, you should definitely give a formal apology whenever you lose your cool with your child as a parent, then committing to never lose your cool with your child ever again, as losing your cool with your children alone is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. Once you master apologizing to children, you should avoid hurting your child's feelings by only saying "no" when absolutely necessary, meaning almost never. Even then, there is usually a nicer way to put it. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandment, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan parenting customs, which were punitive in nature. Paul, contrary to popular legend, opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men.

As a general rule, even the word "no" was banned in the Early Church in parenting, under customary law. The only exceptions to this rule is if the petitioned request from the child was unsafe, unworkable, and/or immoral. Whenever children cried or had a meltdown due to the word "no", they were met by an apology, usually in the form of a reassurance of good intent. But, if the limit was set out of anger or haste, a full apology was in order.

However, Christian parents in the Early Church rarely gave children a flat-out "no". In most cases, parents used nicer-sounding words with their children, such as "that isn't possible", "that can't happen", or "that won't work". Even in cases of fornication, parents simply reassured boys in particular that they will get a chance some other time with the woman of his dreams, and that all good things wait.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast forever into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Back talk: Why to apologize to your child when they talk back

Many parents think that children talk back in order to "undermine parental authority". Back talk is a common motive behind punishment in many cases. However, the fact of the matter is that back talk instead happens when a child cannot accept a set limit. Refusal to apologize to a defiant child is child abuse.

God's Law on child abuse is spelled out in Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement, with this entitlement including any parent anger directed towards children. In order to not abuse your child, you need to avoid offense in children. However, since hurting children's feelings is inevitable in parenting, you need to be willing to give a meaningful apology whenever you hurt your child's feelings. One expression of hurt feelings in children when their feelings are hurt is back talk. Back talk comes from a child that is unable to accept a set limit. Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent from parents. However, if you ever set a limit out of anger or haste, you definitely need to apologize for losing your cool as a parent, and then commit never to lose your cool with your child ever again, as losing your cool when setting limits alone is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, and is translated roughly to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions on children, such as spanking or other forms of punishing children. Paul, contrary to popular legend was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men.

Many times, children's feelings are hurt when they hear the word "no". Most children talk back when they cannot accept a set limit, especially the word "no". Setting unnecessary limits was unlawful in biblical times, with limits only being allowed in the case of a child behaving in an unsafe and/or immoral manner. The word "no" was banned in the Early Church except when the petitioned request was unsafe, unworkable, and/or immoral in nature. Even then, parents usually found a nicer way of declining a request than the word "no", such as "that isn't possible", "that can't happen", or "that won't work".

Any parenting motivated by anger in the Early Church was seen as akin to a viper lashing out at its prey. Most parenting then was not done out of anger, but was instead done out of worry or concern. Most Christian parents in the Early Church worried a lot about their children, meaning they never got angry with their children at all. Mother Mary was very much worried about her son Jesus, and most mothers then worried like that. Most Jewish mothers today worry a lot, meaning it is a myth that a Jewish mother is a nag.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast forever into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!