Proverbs 4:5-15

5 Get wisdom, get understanding; Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

6 Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; Love her, and she will keep thee.

7 Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [Therefore] get wisdom; Yea, with all thy getting get understanding.

8 Exalt her, and she will promote thee; She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.

9 She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; A crown of beauty will she deliver to thee.

10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; And the years of thy life shall be many.

11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness.

12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

13 Take fast hold of instruction; Let her not go: Keep her; For she is thy life.

14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, And walk not in the way of evil men.

15 Avoid it, pass not by it; Turn from it, and pass on.

Proverbs 4:5-15 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.