Proverbs 4:1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 4
The Teacher as Model Disciple[a]
1 Hear, O children, a father’s instruction,
be attentive, that you may gain understanding!
Footnotes
- 4:1–9
The teacher draws a parallel between his teaching the disciples now and his father’s teaching him in his youth (vv. 3–4): what my father taught me about wisdom is what I am teaching you. The poem implies that the teacher has acquired wisdom and has in fact been protected and honored as his father promised long ago. Thus the teacher has the authority of someone who has been under wisdom’s sway since earliest youth.
There are two sections, a call for attention and introduction of the speaker (vv. 1–3) and the father’s quoting of his own father’s teaching (vv. 4–9). Beginning with v. 5, the father’s words are no longer quoted, wisdom herself becoming the active agent; she becomes the subject, not the object, of the verbs. Three Hebrew verbs are repeated in the two parts, “to forsake” in vv. 2 and 6, “to keep/guard” in vv. 4 and 6, and “to give/bestow” in vv. 2 and 9. Each verb in its first appearance has the father’s words as its object; in its second appearance each verb has wisdom as its subject or object. The teaching process is like that in 2:1–22 and 3:1–12: heeding the words of one’s parent puts one in touch with wisdom, who completes the process and bestows her gifts.
Proverbs 4:1
New American Standard Bible
A Father’s Instruction
4 Listen, my sons, to the (A)instruction of a father,
And (B)pay attention so that you may [a]gain understanding,
Footnotes
- Proverbs 4:1 Lit know
Proverbs 4:1
English Standard Version
Proverbs 4:1
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Parental Advice
4 Listen, children, to a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain[a] insight;
Footnotes
- Proverbs 4:1 Heb know
Proverbs 4:1
New International Version
Get Wisdom at Any Cost
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