Proverbs 4:7-17

7 Wisdom is best. So get wisdom. No matter what it costs, get understanding.
8 Value wisdom, and she will lift you up. Hold her close, and she will honor you.
9 She will set a beautiful crown on your head. She will give you a glorious crown."
10 My son, listen. Accept what I say. Then you will live for many years.
11 I guide you in the way of wisdom. I lead you along straight paths.
12 When you walk, nothing will slow you down. When you run, you won't trip and fall.
13 Hold on to my teaching. Don't let it go. Guard it well. It is your life.
14 Don't take the path of evil people. Don't live the way sinners do.
15 Stay away from their path. Don't travel on it. Turn away from it. Go on your way.
16 Sinners can't sleep until they do what is evil. They can't rest until they make someone fall.
17 They do evil just as easily as they eat food. They hurt others as easily as they drink wine.

Proverbs 4:7-17 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.

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