Proverbs 4:1

1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know intelligence;

Proverbs 4:1 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 4:1

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father
Either of God their father, as Gersom interprets it; or rather of Solomon their father: and so he recommends his instruction from the relation he stood in to them; for, since he was their father, he would give them no bad instruction; and, since they were his children, they ought to receive it: by whom are meant, not his children in a natural sense, or the children of his body; but his disciples, such who applied to him for knowledge, and whom he undertook to learn; and attend to know understanding;
what would serve to enlighten, enlarge, improve, and inform their understandings; what would lead them into the knowledge and understanding of things divine and spiritual, and which would be worth knowing; and of having their understandings stored and enriched with.

Proverbs 4:1 In-Context

1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know intelligence;
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.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or 'discernment,' as ch. 3.5.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.