Proverbs 4:1

Get Wisdom at Any Cost

1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

Proverbs 4:1 in Other Translations

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

1 Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

1 My children, listen when your father corrects you. Pay attention and learn good judgment,

1 Listen, friends, to some fatherly advice; sit up and take notice so you'll know how to live.

1 Listen, [my] sons, to a father's discipline, and pay attention so that you may gain understanding,

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 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

2 I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.

3 For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother.

4 Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.

5 Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them.

Cross References

• 1. S Proverbs 1:8
• 2. Proverbs 19:20
• 3. S Job 8:10