Proverbs 4:7-17

7 Wisdom is the most important thing; so get wisdom. If it costs everything you have, get understanding.

8 Treasure wisdom, and it will make you great; hold on to it, and it will bring you honor.

9 It will be like flowers in your hair and like a beautiful crown on your head."

10 My child, listen and accept what I say. Then you will have a long life.

11 I am guiding you in the way of wisdom, and I am leading you on the right path.

12 Nothing will hold you back; you will not be overwhelmed.

13 Always remember what you have been taught, and don't let go of it. Keep all that you have learned; it is the most important thing in life.

14 Don't follow the ways of the wicked; don't do what evil people do.

15 Avoid their ways, and don't follow them. Stay away from them and keep on going,

16 because they cannot sleep until they do evil. They cannot rest until they harm someone.

17 They feast on wickedness and cruelty as if they were eating bread and drinking wine.

Proverbs 4:7-17 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.