Proverbs · Catholic Public Domain Version
Proverbs 4 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 Listen, sons, to the discipline of a father, and pay attention, so that you may know prudence.
1 Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;
2 I will bestow upon you a good gift. Do not relinquish my law.
2 for I give you sound learning. Don’t forsake my law.
3 For I, too, was the son of my father, tender and an only son in the sight of my mother.
3 For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.
4 And he taught me, and he also said: “Let your heart accept my words. Keep my precepts, and you shall live.
4 He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.
5 Obtain wisdom, obtain prudence. May you neither forget, nor turn away from, the words of my mouth.
5 Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not send her away, and she will guard you. Love her, and she will preserve you.
6 Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is to obtain wisdom, and, with all that you possess, to acquire prudence.
7 Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
8 Grasp her, and she will exalt you. You will be glorified by her, when you have embraced her.
8 Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
9 She will bestow upon your head an increase in graces, and she will protect you with a noble crown.
9 She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
10 Listen, my son, and accept my words, so that years of life may be multiplied for you.
10 Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.
11 I will demonstrate to you the way of wisdom. I will lead you along the paths of equity.
11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.
12 When you have entered by these, your steps will not be constrained, and when running, you will have no obstacle.
12 When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.
13 Take hold of discipline. Do not dismiss it. Guard it, for it is your life.
13 Take firm hold of instruction. Don’t let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.
14 Do not delight in the paths of the impious, nor permit the way of evil-doers to please you.
14 Don’t enter into the path of the wicked. Don’t walk in the way of evil men.
15 Take flight from it. Do not pass close to it. Turn away and abandon it.
15 Avoid it, and don’t pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.
16 For they do not sleep, unless they have done evil. And their sleep is quickly taken away from them, unless they have overthrown.
16 For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
17 They eat the bread of impiety, and they drink the wine of iniquity.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the just is like a shining light: it advances and increases, even to the day of completion.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.
19 The way of the impious is darkened. They do not know where they may fall.
19 The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
20 My son, pay attention to my sermons, and incline your ear to my eloquent words.
20 My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not recede from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.
21 Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them and health to all that is flesh.
22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.
23 Preserve your heart with all watchfulness, for life proceeds from this.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
24 Remove from yourself a corrupt mouth, and let detracting lips be far from you.
24 Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids precede your steps.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Direct the path of your feet, and all your ways shall be secure.
26 Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.
27 Turn aside, neither to the right, nor to the left; yet turn your foot away from evil. For the Lord knows the ways that are on the right, and truly, those that are on the left are perverse. But he himself will make your courses straight. Then your journey will advance in peace.
27 Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
Cross references (27)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Hebrews 2:1; Psalm 34:11; Proverbs 1:8; Proverbs 2:1–5; 1 Thessalonians 2:11–12
- 2 1 Timothy 4:6; Titus 1:9; Psalm 89:30–32; Proverbs 8:6–9; Deuteronomy 32:2
- 3 1 Chronicles 22:5; Romans 12:16; 1 Chronicles 29:1; Zechariah 12:10; 1 Chronicles 3:5
- 4 Proverbs 3:1; Ephesians 6:4; John 12:50; Proverbs 7:2; 1 Chronicles 28:9
- 5 James 1:5; Proverbs 3:13–18; Proverbs 1:22–23; 2 Chronicles 34:2; Psalm 44:18
- 6 2 Thessalonians 2:10; Proverbs 4:21–22; Ephesians 3:17; Proverbs 2:10–12
- 7 Ecclesiastes 7:12; Ecclesiastes 9:16–18; Proverbs 23:23; Proverbs 16:16; Philippians 3:8
- 8 Daniel 12:3; 1 Samuel 2:30; Proverbs 3:35; 1 Kings 3:5–13; Proverbs 22:4
- 9 Proverbs 1:9; 1 Peter 5:4; Hebrews 2:7–9; Proverbs 16:31; Isaiah 28:5
- 10 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Proverbs 3:2; Deuteronomy 6:2; Jeremiah 9:20; Proverbs 3:16
- 11 Psalm 25:4–5; Ecclesiastes 12:9; Proverbs 8:9; Proverbs 8:6; 1 Samuel 12:23–24
- 12 Proverbs 3:23; Psalm 18:36; 2 Samuel 22:37; 1 Peter 2:8; John 11:9–10
- 13 Proverbs 3:18; Hebrews 2:1; Proverbs 23:23; Deuteronomy 32:47; Acts 2:42
- 14 Psalm 1:1; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Proverbs 1:15; Proverbs 1:10; Proverbs 13:20
- 15 Ephesians 5:11; Job 22:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; Exodus 23:7; Job 11:14
- 16 Psalm 36:4; Micah 2:1; Isaiah 57:20; 2 Peter 2:14; Proverbs 1:16
- 17 Micah 6:12; Proverbs 9:17; Proverbs 20:17; Psalm 14:4; James 5:4–5
- 18 John 8:12; Job 11:17; Daniel 12:3; Philippians 2:15; 2 Corinthians 3:18
- 19 John 12:35; Isaiah 59:9–10; Jeremiah 23:12; Job 18:5–6; 1 Samuel 2:9
- 20 Proverbs 5:1; Isaiah 55:3; Proverbs 6:20–21; Proverbs 7:1; Psalm 78:1
- 21 Proverbs 3:21; Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 7:1–2; Psalm 40:8; Proverbs 2:1
- 22 Jeremiah 33:6; Proverbs 12:18; Proverbs 4:10; Proverbs 3:8; Proverbs 4:4
- 23 Luke 6:45; Matthew 12:34–35; Mark 7:21–23; Psalm 139:23–24; Proverbs 13:3
- 24 Proverbs 8:8; James 1:26; Proverbs 8:13; Ephesians 4:25–31; 1 Peter 2:1
- 25 Psalm 119:37; Matthew 6:22; Job 31:1; Proverbs 23:33; Proverbs 23:5
- 26 Hebrews 12:13; Psalm 37:23; Psalm 119:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; Haggai 1:5
- 27 Deuteronomy 5:32; Joshua 1:7; Deuteronomy 28:14; Proverbs 16:17; Deuteronomy 12:32
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
It is not an enemy, O man, that assails thee from without, but an evil shoot growing up out of thyself. Look right on with thine eyes, and there is no lust.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)