Proverbs 4:2-12

2 for I give you good doctrine: forsake ye not my law.
3 For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.
4 And he taught me, and said unto me, Let thy heart retain my words; keep my commandments and live.
5 Get wisdom, get intelligence: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee; love her, and she shall preserve thee.
7 The beginning of wisdom [is], Get wisdom; and with all thy getting get intelligence.
8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace her.
9 She shall give to thy head a garland of grace; a crown of glory will she bestow upon thee.
10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be multiplied.
11 I will teach thee in the way of wisdom, I will lead thee in paths of uprightness.
12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt 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.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or 'teaching,' as ch. 3.1.
  • [b]. Or, 'Wisdom is the principal thing: get wisdom.' 'Beginning' is as Gen. 1.1; Ps. 111.10; Prov. 1.7: see Note b, Lev. 2.12.
  • [c]. See Note i, ch. 2.9.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.