Proverbs 4:1

A Father’s Wise Instruction

1 ¹Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may ²gain^[a] insight,

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, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

2 for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.

3 When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

4 he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

5 Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

Cross References

• 1. 4:1 ch. 1:8; [ch. 5:7; 7:24; 8:33; Ps. 34:11]
• 2. 4:1 ch. 2:2

Footnotes

• [a] 4:1 Hebrew 'know'