Proverbschapter 4
27 verses · KJVProverbs book hub →
A.What My Father Taught Me: Get Wisdom, Get Understandingvv. 1-9
Proverbs 4:1-4
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father: The appeal doubles as autobiography: Solomon was himself once the tender and only beloved son taught by his own father, who told him to let his heart retain his words and keep his commandments. Three generations stand inside these four verses, the father who taught Solomon, Solomon who received it, and the son now being addressed, and the commentators read the doubling as proof that wisdom is received before it can be given. The father does not invent the doctrine here; he hands on what he was himself taught.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:1, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:1
“The words “ye children” indicate as usual a new section returning, after the break of Pro 3:27-35, to the old strain of fatherly counsel.”
Proverbs 4:1-2
“We have reason to think that thousands have got more good by Solomon's proverbs than his own son did, to whom they seem to have been dedicated. Let all young people, in the days of their childhood and youth, take pains to get knowledge and grace, for that is their learning age, and then their minds are formed and seasoned.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:2, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:2
“It must be noted, that he names the law a good gift, on account of the man who takes gifts into his bosom unrighteously. And he forsakes the law who transgresses it; the law, namely, of which he speaks, or which he has kept.”
Hippolytus of Rome· third century· Hippolytus Exegetical Fragmentspatristic
Voices on this verse, 3What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:3, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:3
“For I was my father's son,.... Or, "a son to my father" (p); so Solomon was to God, his heavenly Father, 2Sa 7:14; which Jarchi observes, and gives as the sense of this place: but his father David is meant, whose son he was; though he was not his only one, he had others besides him.”
Proverbs 4:3
“Probably the words of Solomon himself, who looks back from his glorious throne and his matured wisdom to the training which was the starting point. The part taken by Bathsheba in 1 Kings 1, no less than the friendship between her and Nathan, indicates that a mother’s training might well have laid the foundation of the king’s future wisdom. Among the Israelites and Egyptians alone, of the nations of the old world, was the son’s reverence for the mother placed side by side with that which he owed to his father.”
Proverbs 4:3-4
“Observe, (1.) His parents loved him, and therefore taught him: I was my father's son. David had many sons, but Solomon was his son indeed, as Isaac is called ( Gen. xvii. 19 ) and for the same reason, because on him the covenant was entailed.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:4, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:4
“He taught me also, and said unto me,.... The Targum is, "they taught me,'' his father and his mother; and so the Septuagint version, "who said and taught me;'' and the Arabic version, "they both taught me, and said unto me;'' but in the Hebrew it is singular, and is restrained to the father.”
Proverbs 4:4
“He taught me also, and said - Open thy heart to receive my instructions - receive them with affection; when heard, retain and practice them; and thou shalt live - the great purpose of thy being brought into the world shall be accomplished in thee.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 4:5-9
forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth: Wisdom is personified as a bride to be gotten and embraced, exalted so that she in turn exalts the one who holds her fast. The ornament of grace and the crown of glory promised in verse nine read as court language, the very honors a king bestows, and the commentators note that this fits a father instructing a son born to reign. Forsake her not is paired with love her, so that the pursuit of wisdom becomes as much affection as duty.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:6, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:6
Therefore, in both these and in many other places, you will find that the divine Scripture avoids the word "love" and inserted "charity" and "affection." Nonetheless, here and there he uses the proper word "love" and invites and stirs up souls to him, as when he speaks in Proverbs about Wisdom: "Fall in love with her and she will save you; embrace her and she will exalt you; honor her that she may embrace you."
Origen of Alexandria· third century· COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUEpatristic
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:7, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing,.... Or principal, one; the principal of persons and things; the principal of persons, angels or men: Christ is superior to angels, having a more excellent name and nature than they; he is the God, the Creator, and head of them, and is above them in the human nature; he is superior to men, to the greatest of men, he is King of kings and Lord of lords, and to the best of men the saints.”
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing - ראשית חכמה reshith chochmah, “wisdom is the principle.” It is the punctum saliens in all religion to know the true God, and what he requires of man, and for what he has made man; and to this must be added, under the Christian dispensation, to know Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, and for what end He was sent, the necessity of his being sent, and the nature of that salvation which he has bought by his own blood.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:8, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:8
“If a man is going to carry out the advice of Solomon and take for helpmate and life-companion that true Wisdom of which he says, "Love her, and she shall keep thee," "honour her, that she may embrace thee," then he will prepare himself in a manner worthy of such a love, so as to feast with all the joyous wedding guests in spotless raiment, and not be cast forth, while claiming to sit at that feast, for not having put on the wedding garment.”
Gregory of Nyssa· fourth century· ON VIRGINITY 20patristic
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:9, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:9
“She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace,.... This, and the following clause, explain what that honour is Christ promotes and brings his followers to here and hereafter: he gives them grace and more grace; "an increase of grace", so the Vulgate Latin version renders it; and some think James refers to this passage, Pro 4:”
B.Two Paths: the Dawning Light and the Deep Darknessvv. 10-19
Proverbs 4:10-13
the years of thy life shall be many: The father turns from wisdom's rewards to wisdom's road, promising steps that are not straitened and a stride that will not stumble even at a run. Instruction here is something to take fast hold of and never release, for she is thy life, language stronger than the earlier keep her and love her. Gill and Henry both read the unhindered path as a life ordered by wisdom rather than a promise against every hardship.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:10, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:10-11
“There is only one way of truth, but different paths from different places join it, just like tributaries flowing into a perennial river. So these are really inspired words: "Hear, my son, and accept my words, to have many paths of life. I am teaching you the ways of wisdom, so that its springs may never fail you"—that is, those which spurt from the same soil. He is not merely affirming that there is more than one path of salvation for a single righteous person. He adds that there are plenty of righteous people and plenty of routes for them.”
Clement of Alexandria· third century· The Stromata Book 1patristic
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:12, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:12
“That our steps be not straitened when we go, that we bring not ourselves into such straits as David was in, 2 Sam. xxiv. Those that make God's word their rule shall walk at liberty, and be at ease in themselves.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Voices on this verse, 3What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:13, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:13
“Take fast hold of instruction,.... Not the law, as Jarchi and Gersom interpret it; but the instruction of wisdom, the doctrine of Christ or the Gospel; see Pro 8:1; which is an instruction into the mind and will of God, concerning the salvation of men; into the grace of God, showing that salvation, in all its branches, is of pure grace; into the person and offices of Christ, and into the business of salvation through him; into the doctrines of peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life by him.”
Proverbs 4:13
“Take fast hold - החזק hachazek, seize it strongly, and keep the hold; and do this as for life. Learn all thou canst, retain what thou hast learnt, and keep the reason continually in view - it is for thy life.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 4:13
“FAITH may be well described as taking hold upon Divine instruction. God has condescended to teach us and it is ours to hear with attention and receive His words. And while we are hearing, faith comes, even that faith which saves the soul. To take "fast hold" is an exhortation which concerns the strength, the reality, the heartiness and the truthfulness of faith—and the more of these the better. If to take hold is good, to take fast hold is better!”
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1418: “The Holdfast” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1878)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Proverbs 4:14-17
Enter not into the path of the wicked: Four short commands pile up, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, pass away, urging distance rather than argument; the father does not tell the son to reason with temptation but to stay off its road. The wicked in view are men so given over that they cannot sleep unless they have caused someone to fall, their bread wickedness and their drink violence. The picture is deliberately extreme, the commentators note, because a milder warning would not match how far sin can carry a man once entered.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:14, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:14
“The heterodox are the "wicked," and the transgressors of the law are "evil men," whose "ways"-that is to say, their deeds-he bids us not enter.”
Hippolytus of Rome· third century· Hippolytus Exegetical Fragmentspatristic
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:15, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:15
“Avoid it,.... As dangerous and pernicious, as abominable and detestable; or, "flee from it", as the Vulgate Latin version: Jarchi and Gersom interpret it, "make it void"; cause it to cease, destroy it, do all you can to hinder the wicked from accomplishing their designs; pass not by it; do not come near it; keep at a distance from it, that you may not be drawn into it; abstain from all appearance of evil, and everything that may lead to it; turn from it, and pass away; the Targum adds, "from them", from wicked men.”
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:16, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:16
“For they sleep not, except they have done mischief,.... Or they cannot sleep, as Jarchi and Gersom interpret it. Oftentimes they cannot sleep on their beds for devising mischief, their thoughts are so intensely set on contriving wicked schemes; and when they have so done, they cannot sleep until they have executed them; they are continually restless and uneasy day and night, like the troubled sea, constantly casting up mire and dirt.”
Proverbs 4:16
“Except they have done mischief - The night is their time for spoil and depredation. And they must gain some booty, before they go to rest. This I believe to be the meaning of the passage. I grant, also, that there may be some of so malevolent a disposition that they cannot be easy unless they can injure others, and are put to excessive pain when they perceive any man in prosperity, or receiving a kindness.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 4:18-19
as the shining light: The two ways are drawn in light and dark: the just walk a path that shines more and more unto the perfect day, gaining brightness as it goes, while the wicked walk in a darkness so complete they do not know at what they stumble. Bridges reads the growing light as the whole course of a godly life, small beginnings ripening toward a noon that is still ahead. The wicked's darkness is not merely absence of light but a blindness to their own danger, since a man in full dark cannot see the obstacle that trips him.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:18, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:18
“But the path of the just - The path of the wicked is gloomy, dark, and dangerous; that of the righteous is open, luminous, and instructive. This verse contains a fine metaphor; it refers to the sun rising above the horizon, and the increasing twilight, till his beams shine full upon the earth.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Voices on this verse, 3What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:19, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:19
“The way of the wicked is dark, etc. John the Apostle also says concerning these: Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no offense in him (1 John 2); but whoever hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, …”
Bede· eighth century· Commentary on Proverbspatristic
Proverbs 4:19
“The way of the wicked is as darkness,.... They are in the darkness of sin, ignorance, error, and unbelief; their works are works of darkness; the way in which they are leads to eternal darkness, ruin, and misery, and so must be most uncomfortable and dangerous; they know not at what they stumble; they stumble at the word, which they are ignorant of, and at Christ, whom they have no knowledge of; and through the temptations of Satan and snares of the world, which they are not aware of, nor upon their guard against.”
Proverbs 4:19
“They fall into sin, but are not aware which way the temptation came by which they were overthrown, and therefore know not how to avoid it the next time. They fall into trouble, but never enquire wherefore God contends with them; they consider not that they do evil, nor what will be in the end of it, Ps. lxxxii. This is the way we are directed to shun.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
C.Keep Thy Heart, For Out of It Are the Issues of Lifevv. 20-27
Proverbs 4:20-23
incline thine ear unto my sayings: The father returns to plain attention before he gives the chapter's central command: keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. The heart in Hebrew thought is the whole inner man, will and mind together, and the commentators read issues of life as everything a person does and becomes flowing outward from that source. Life and health are promised to those who keep these words in the midst of the heart rather than only in the ear.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:21, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:21
“The reason why we must thus make much of the words of wisdom is because they will be both food and physic to us, like the tree of life, Rev. xxii. Those that seek and find them, find and keep them, shall find in them, (1.) Food: For they are life unto those that find them,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:22, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:22
“We could not live without it; we may by faith live upon it. They are health to all their flesh, to the whole man, both body and soul; they help to keep both in good plight. They are health to all flesh, so the LXX.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:23, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:23
“Living thus, let us watch constantly and, as it is written, keep our heart with all watchfulness, for we have terrible and crafty enemies, the wicked demons, and we wrestle against them, as the apostle said: "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness on high." LIFE OF ST.”
Athanasius of Alexandria· fourth century· Life of St. Anthony 21patristic
Proverbs 4:23
“Better, as in the margin, i. e., with more vigilance than men use over anything else. The words that follow carry on the same similitude. The fountains and wells of the East were watched over with special care. The heart is such a fountain, out of it flow the “issues” of life. Shall men let those streams be tainted at the fountain-head?”
Proverbs 4:24-27
Put away from thee a froward mouth: The instruction narrows from the heart to the body, mouth, eyes, and feet, each told to hold a straight course. Let thine eyes look right on pictures a traveler who does not glance aside at every distraction, and ponder the path of thy feet asks for weighed, deliberate steps rather than a wandering gait. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left closes the chapter where it began, a single road kept by refusing every side path.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 4:25, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:25
“It is necessary that, before other things, you have a sound mind within yourselves and that you be mindful of holy Scripture addressing you and saying, "Let your eyes look straight ahead." … To slip away from the rightness of holy doctrines would be nothing else except to sleep in death. We depart from this rightness when we do not follow the divinely inspired Scriptures.”
Cyril of Alexandria· fifth century· LETTER 55:3patristic
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:26, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:26
We remember holy Scripture crying out, "Make straight the path for your feet, and direct your ways." They who honor the straight paths "run toward the goal to the prize of the heavenly calling in Christ." But those who pay no heed to the apostolic and evangelical tradition and honor the newer, useless and truly ridiculous invention of their own mind, let them hear from all, "Pass not beyond the ancient bounds which your fathers have set."
Cyril of Alexandria· fifth century· LETTER 31:3patristic
Proverbs 4:26
“Ponder the path of thy feet,.... Consider well what path it is, whether right or wrong; or weigh it in the balances of thought, as Aben Ezra; or rather in the balances of the word, and see whether it agrees with that or not. The Septuagint version is, "make straight paths for thy feet"; to which the author of the epistle to the Hebrews seems to have respect, Heb 12:13; and let all thy walls be established; so as to walk on steadily, constantly, uniformly, and not be easily moved out of the ways of religion and truth.”
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 4:27, in their own words.
Proverbs 4:27
“We must really walk on the King's highway and take care not to turn aside from it either to the right hand or to the left, as the Proverbs say. For such is the case with our passions, and such in this matter is the task of the good shepherd, if he is to know properly the souls of his flock, and to guide them according to the methods of a pastoral care which is right and just, and worthy of our true Shepherd.”
Gregory of Nazianzus· fourth century· IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT, ORATION 2:34patristic
Proverbs 4:27
“The ever-recurring image of the straight road on which no one ever loses his way represents here as elsewhere the onward course through life of the man who seeks and finds wisdom.”
Where the chapter sits
Proverbs 4 falls in Sayings of Solomon: long discourses (chapters 1–9). The opening nine chapters frame wisdom and folly as two paths. Wisdom personified (ch 8): the book's poetic high point and a future Christ-as-Wisdom anchor.
After it: Solomon's proverbs proper, chapters 10–24.
The whole shape of Proverbs→Key words
The Hebrew words this chapter turns on, by how often it uses them. Each one opens its word study.
| Word | What it means | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| בֵּןbên4 times, as בָ֭נִים, בֵ֭ן, בְּ֭נִי | son | 1, 3, 10, 20 |
| קָנָהqânâh4 times, as קְנֵ֣ה | to buy | 5, 7 |
| חׇכְמָהchokmâh4 times, as חָ֭כְמָה, חָכְמָ֑ה | wisdom | 5, 7, 11 |
| חַיchay4 times, as חַיִּֽים׃, חַיֶּֽיךָ׃, חַיִּ֣ים | alive | 10, 13, 22, 23 |
| דֶּרֶךְderek4 times, as בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ, דֶּ֣רֶךְ, דְּרָכֶ֥יךָ | way | 11, 14, 19, 26 |
| בִּינָהbîynâh3 times, as בִּינָֽה׃, בִינָ֑ה, בִינָֽה׃ | understanding | 1, 5, 7 |
Cross references
The 8 chapters this one speaks with, most first. Open a row for the verses it shares.
Proverbs 38 verses
Proverbs 4:4
Proverbs 3:1My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:Proverbs 4:10
Proverbs 3:2For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.Proverbs 4:21
Proverbs 3:3Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:Proverbs 4:5
Proverbs 3:13Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.Proverbs 4:13
Proverbs 3:18She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.Proverbs 4:21
Proverbs 3:21My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:- Read Proverbs 3: 2 more there →
Proverbs 13 verses
Proverbs 4:1
Proverbs 1:8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:Proverbs 4:9
Proverbs 1:9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.Proverbs 4:14
Proverbs 1:15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:- Read Proverbs 1 →
Proverbs 83 verses
Proverbs 4:24
Proverbs 8:8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.Proverbs 4:11
Proverbs 8:9They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.Proverbs 4:24
Proverbs 8:13The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.- Read Proverbs 8 →
Hebrews 22 verses
Proverbs 4:1, 13
Hebrews 2:1Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.Proverbs 4:9
Hebrews 2:7Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:- Read Hebrews 2 →
The rest of the chapters this one speaks with, 4 of them, for a reader following a thread past the four above
- John 122 verses
- James 12 verses
- Psalms 1192 verses
- Proverbs 231 verse
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.
Featured studies
Pages of this site that take up something in this chapter. Each one opens on its own.
- The Crownv. 9
- The Heartv. 23
- The Tongue: Death and Life in Proverbsv. 23
The world behind itThe place, the time and the people around this chapter, for a reader who wants the setting.
The world behind this chapter
Proverbs 4The history
This chapter quotes a lesson inside a lesson: "I was my father's son… he taught me also, and said unto me." On the traditional reading that is Solomon repeating David's charge to him, which matches the scene in 1 Kings 2 where the dying king tells his son to keep the ways of the LORD. Wisdom in Israel moved down a family line, not through a school building.
"Keep thy heart with all diligence" uses guard-duty language. A walled town posted men at the gate and on the wall through the night in watches, and the verb here is what those men did. In Hebrew thinking the heart is not the seat of feelings but the place where a person decides, so the instruction is to post a sentry on your own will.
The two roads are lit differently on purpose. The path of the just is compared to the light before dawn, which in that country comes up fast and grows until full day. The way of the wicked is "as darkness: they know not at what they stumble", an accurate description of walking a stony hillside track with no moon and no lamp.
What it meant to them
The first hearers were being shown that a family can hand down something more valuable than land. David gave Solomon a throne; the chapter says the words were the real inheritance.
And the closing commands go body part by body part, heart, mouth, eyes, feet, because Israel's teaching never stayed abstract. Wisdom was something you did with your face and your feet, or you did not have it.
Sources cited
- Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Proverbs 4. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 16 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, Life of St. Anthony 21; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1418: “The Holdfast” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1878); Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 1; Cyril of Alexandria; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Gregory of Nazianzus, IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT, ORATION 2:34; Gregory of Nyssa, ON VIRGINITY 20; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry and Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE.