Proverbs 4 JPS Tanakh (1917)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Numbers like (22-2) in the text give the Hebrew verse numbering where it differs.
1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
1 Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;
2 For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not my teaching.
2 for I give you sound learning. Don’t forsake my law.
3 For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one 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 said unto me: 'Let thy heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments, and live;
4 He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, neither decline 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 Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; love her, and she will keep thee.
6 Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is: Get wisdom; yea, with all thy getting get understanding.
7 Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
8 Extol her, and she will exalt thee; she will bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
8 Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
9 She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; a crown of glory will she bestow on thee.'
9 She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
10 Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.
11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness.
11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.
12 When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
12 When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.
13 Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.
13 Take firm hold of instruction. Don’t let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.
14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men.
14 Don’t enter into the path of the wicked. Don’t walk in the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass on.
15 Avoid it, and don’t pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.
16 For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
16 For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
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 wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.
19 The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
20 My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.
21 Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.
23 Above all that thou guardest keep thy heart; for out of it are the issues of life.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
24 Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you.
25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Make plain the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
26 Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.
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)