Proverbs 4:18-27

18 iustorum autem semita quasi lux splendens procedit et crescit usque ad perfectam diem
19 via impiorum tenebrosa nesciunt ubi corruant
20 fili mi ausculta sermones meos et ad eloquia mea inclina aurem tuam
21 ne recedant ab oculis tuis custodi ea in medio cordis tui
22 vita enim sunt invenientibus ea et universae carni sanitas
23 omni custodia serva cor tuum quia ex ipso vita procedit
24 remove a te os pravum et detrahentia labia sint procul a te
25 oculi tui recta videant et palpebrae tuae praecedant gressus tuos
26 dirige semitam pedibus tuis et omnes viae tuae stabilientur
27 ne declines ad dexteram et ad sinistram averte pedem tuum a malo

Proverbs 4:18-27 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 Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.