Proverbs 4:1-11

1 Listen, friends, to some fatherly advice; sit up and take notice so you'll know how to live.
2 I'm giving you good counsel; don't let it go in one ear and out the other.
3 When I was a boy at my father's knee, the pride and joy of my mother,
4 He would sit me down and drill me: "Take this to heart. Do what I tell you - live!
5 Sell everything and buy Wisdom! Forage for Understanding! Don't forget one word! Don't deviate an inch!
6 Never walk away from Wisdom - she guards your life; love her - she keeps her eye on you.
7 Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding!
8 Throw your arms around her - believe me, you won't regret it; never let her go - she'll make your life glorious.
9 She'll garland your life with grace, she'll festoon your days with beauty."
10 Dear friend, take my advice; it will add years to your life.
11 I'm writing out clear directions to Wisdom Way, I'm drawing a map to Righteous Road.

Proverbs 4:1-11 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.

Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.