Proverbes 4:1-7

1 Ecoutez, mes fils, l'instruction d'un père, Et soyez attentifs, pour connaître la sagesse;
2 Car je vous donne de bons conseils: Ne rejetez pas mon enseignement.
3 J'étais un fils pour mon père, Un fils tendre et unique auprès de ma mère.
4 Il m'instruisait alors, et il me disait: Que ton coeur retienne mes paroles; Observe mes préceptes, et tu vivras.
5 Acquiers la sagesse, acquiers l'intelligence; N'oublie pas les paroles de ma bouche, et ne t'en détourne pas.
6 Ne l'abandonne pas, et elle te gardera; Aime-la, et elle te protégera.
7 Voici le commencement de la sagesse: Acquiers la sagesse, Et avec tout ce que tu possèdes acquiers l'intelligence.

Proverbes 4:1-7 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.

The Louis Segond 1910 is in the public domain.