Proverbs 4:23-27

23 Guard your heart above all else,^[a] for it is the source of life.^[b]

24 Don't let your mouth speak dishonestly, and don't let your lips talk deviously.

25 Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze^[c] straight ahead.

26 Carefully consider the path^[d] for your feet, and all your ways will be established.^[e]

27 Don't turn to the right or to the left;^[f] keep your feet away from evil.

Proverbs 4:23-27 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Or heart with all diligence
• [b] Mt 15:19; Mk 7:18-23
• [c] Lit eyelids
• [d] Or Clear a path
• [e] Pr 5:21
• [f] Dt 5:32-33; 28:13-14; Jos 23:6