Proverbs 4:2-12

2 for I give you good 1precepts; do not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son with my father, 2tender, 3the only one in the sight of my mother,
4 he 4taught me and said to me, 5"Let your heart hold fast my words; 6keep my commandments, and live.
5 7Get wisdom; get 8insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; 9love her, and she will guard you.
7 10The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get 11insight.
8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will 12honor you 13if you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head 14a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown."
10 15Hear, 16my son, and accept my words, that 17the years of your life may be many.
11 I have 18taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
12 When you walk, 19your step will not be hampered, and 20if you run, you will not stumble.

Proverbs 4:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 4

In this chapter Solomon advises to seek after wisdom, to avoid bad company, and to continue in the right paths of goodness and truth: he excites attention to what he had to say, from the relation he stood in to the persons addressed; from the nature of his instructions, which were good and profitable; and from his own example, in attending to those his parents gave him, Pr 4:1-4; He exhorts above all things to get wisdom, from the superior excellency of it, and from the preservation, promotion, and honour, to be had by it, Pr 4:5-9; and he further enforces big exhortations, from their being the means of a comfortable life, and of the prolongation of it, and of leading in a right way without straitness or stumbling, Pr 4:10-13. And then proceeds to caution against bad company, and going into a bad way of life; which is enforced from the mischief done by those that walk in it, and from the darkness of it, to which the path of the just is opposed, Pr 4:14-19. And the exhortation to attend to and observe his instructions, and keep them, is repeated, from the consideration of their being life and health to them, Pr 4:20-22; and that they might be preserved, and not departed from, direction's are given about ordering the heart, mouth, lips, eyes, and feet, Pr 4:23-27.

Cross References 20

  • 1. Job 11:4
  • 2. See 1 Chronicles 22:5
  • 3. Zechariah 12:10
  • 4. 1 Chronicles 28:9; [Ephesians 6:4]
  • 5. [Proverbs 3:1]
  • 6. Proverbs 7:2; Leviticus 18:5; Isaiah 55:3
  • 7. Proverbs 2:2
  • 8. [See ver. 1 above]
  • 9. [2 Thessalonians 2:10]
  • 10. [Proverbs 1:7]
  • 11. [See ver. 1 above]
  • 12. 1 Samuel 2:30
  • 13. [Song of Songs 2:6]
  • 14. Proverbs 1:9
  • 15. [See ver. 1 above]
  • 16. Proverbs 2:1
  • 17. See Proverbs 3:2
  • 18. See 1 Samuel 12:23
  • 19. [Job 18:7; Psalms 18:36; Psalms 119:45]
  • 20. Proverbs 3:23
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.