Proverbs 4
Good News Translation
The Benefits of Wisdom
4 My children, listen to what your father teaches you. Pay attention, and you will have understanding. 2 What I am teaching you is good, so remember it all. 3 When I was only a little boy, my parents' only son, 4 my father would teach me. He would say, “Remember what I say and never forget it. Do as I tell you, and you will live. 5 Get wisdom and insight! Do not forget or ignore what I say. 6 Do not abandon wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will keep you safe. 7 Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do. Whatever else you get, get insight. 8 Love wisdom, and she will make you great. Embrace her,[a] and she will bring you honor. 9 She will be your crowning glory.”
10 Listen to me, my child. Take seriously what I am telling you, and you will live a long life. 11 I have taught you wisdom and the right way to live. 12 Nothing will stand in your way if you walk wisely, and you will not stumble when you run. 13 Always remember what you have learned. Your education is your life—guard it well. 14 Do not go where evil people go. Do not follow the example of the wicked. 15 Don't do it! Keep away from evil! Refuse it and go on your way. 16 Wicked people cannot sleep unless they have done something wrong. They lie awake unless they have hurt someone. 17 Wickedness and violence are like food and drink to them.
18 The road the righteous travel is like the sunrise, getting brighter and brighter until daylight has come. 19 The road of the wicked, however, is dark as night. They fall, but cannot see what they have stumbled over.
20 My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen to my words. 21 Never let them get away from you. Remember them and keep them in your heart. 22 They will give life and health to anyone who understands them. 23 Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. 24 Never say anything that isn't true. Have nothing to do with lies and misleading words. 25 Look straight ahead with honest confidence; don't hang your head in shame. 26 (A)Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right. 27 Avoid evil and walk straight ahead. Don't go one step off the right way.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 4:8 Embrace her; or Prize her highly.
Proverbs 4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Parental Advice
4 Listen, children, to a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain[a] insight,(A)
2 for I give you good precepts:
do not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son with my father,
tender and my mother’s favorite,(B)
4 he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments and live.(C)
5 Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget nor turn away
from the words of my mouth.(D)
6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.(E)
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom,
and whatever else you get, get insight.(F)
8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.(G)
9 She will place on your head a fair garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”(H)
Admonition to Keep to the Right Path
10 Hear, my child, and accept my words,
that the years of your life may be many.
11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.(I)
12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.(J)
13 Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of evildoers.(K)
15 Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.(L)
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.(M)
19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what they stumble over.(N)
20 My child, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.(O)
22 For they are life to those who find them
and healing to all their flesh.(P)
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.(Q)
24 Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.(R)
25 Let your eyes look directly forward
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Keep straight the path of your feet,
and all your ways will be sure.(S)
27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.(T)
Footnotes
- 4.1 Heb know
Proverbs 4
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
4 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend that you may know prudence.
2 I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law.
3 For I also was my father's son, tender and as an only son in the sight of my mother:
4 And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.
5 Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee.
7 The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence.
8 Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.
9 She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown.
10 Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee.
11 I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity:
12 Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock.
13 Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life.
14 Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee.
15 Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.
16 For they sleep not except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.
18 But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.
20 My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart:
22 For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh.
23 With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.
24 Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee.
25 Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps.
26 Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established.
27 Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will make thy courses straight, he will bring forward thy ways in peace.
Proverbs 4
The Message
Your Life Is at Stake
4 1-2 Listen, friends, to some fatherly advice;
sit up and take notice so you’ll know how to live.
I’m giving you good counsel;
don’t let it go in one ear and out the other.
3-9 When I was a boy at my father’s knee,
the pride and joy of my mother,
He would sit me down and drill me:
“Take this to heart. Do what I tell you—live!
Sell everything and buy Wisdom! Forage for Understanding!
Don’t forget one word! Don’t deviate an inch!
Never walk away from Wisdom—she guards your life;
love her—she keeps her eye on you.
Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom!
Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding!
Throw your arms around her—believe me, you won’t regret it;
never let her go—she’ll make your life glorious.
She’ll garland your life with grace,
she’ll festoon your days with beauty.”
10-15 Dear friend, take my advice;
it will add years to your life.
I’m writing out clear directions to Wisdom Way,
I’m drawing a map to Righteous Road.
I don’t want you ending up in blind alleys,
or wasting time making wrong turns.
Hold tight to good advice; don’t relax your grip.
Guard it well—your life is at stake!
Don’t take Wicked Bypass;
don’t so much as set foot on that road.
Stay clear of it; give it a wide berth.
Make a detour and be on your way.
16-17 Evil people are restless
unless they’re making trouble;
They can’t get a good night’s sleep
unless they’ve made life miserable for somebody.
Perversity is their food and drink,
violence their drug of choice.
18-19 The ways of right-living people glow with light;
the longer they live, the brighter they shine.
But the road of wrongdoing gets darker and darker—
travelers can’t see a thing; they fall flat on their faces.
Learn It by Heart
20-22 Dear friend, listen well to my words;
tune your ears to my voice.
Keep my message in plain view at all times.
Concentrate! Learn it by heart!
Those who discover these words live, really live;
body and soul, they’re bursting with health.
23-27 Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
that’s where life starts.
Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth;
avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson