Proverbs 4:13-23

13 Always remember what you have learned. Your education is your life - guard it well.
14 Do not go where evil people go. Do not follow the example of the wicked.
15 Don't do it! Keep away from evil! Refuse it and go on your way.
16 Wicked people cannot sleep unless they have done something wrong. They lie awake unless they have hurt someone.
17 Wickedness and violence are like food and drink to them.
18 The road the righteous travel is like the sunrise, getting brighter and brighter until daylight has come.
19 The road of the wicked, however, is dark as night. They fall, but cannot see what they have stumbled over.
20 My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen to my words.
21 Never let them get away from you. Remember them and keep them in your heart.
22 They will give life and health to anyone who understands them.
23 Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.

Proverbs 4:13-23 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.

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.