Proverbs 4:25
in Proverbs 4Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
KJV
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
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This verse in Proverbs 4
Commentary
10 notes on this verseIt 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.
This site's exposition
Put away from thee a froward mouth
on Proverbs 4:24-27
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
He "looks right on" who has thoughts free of passion; and he has true judgments, who is not in a state of excitement about external appearances. When he says, "Let thine eyes look right on," he means the vision of the soul; and when he gives the exhortation, "Eat honey, my son, that it may be sweet to thy palate," he uses "honey" figuratively, meaning divine doctrine, which restores the spiritual knowledge of the soul. But wisdom embraces the soul also; for, says he, "love her, that she may embrace thee." And the soul, by her embrace being made one with wisdom, is filled with holiness and purity. Yea more, the fragrant ointments of Christ are laid hold of by the soul's sense of smell.
Someone will say, "What, then, is sin? Is it an animal? An angel? A demon? What is this which infects us?" Rest assured it is not an enemy attacking from without but an evil springing up within you. "Let your eyes look straight ahead," and there exists no evil desire. If you do not steal the property of others, robbery is at an end. Be mindful of the judgment and neither fornication nor adultery nor murder nor any wickedness will prevail over you. It is when you forget God that you begin to entertain evil thoughts and commit wicked deeds.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Let your eyes look straight ahead, etc. Learn diligently the path of justice on which you ought to enter, and cautiously foresee in all things you intend to do what end they are destined to reach. This means that the eyelids of your eyes looking …
Solomon, advising the wise hearer, says, "And let your eyes anticipate your footsteps," which is to declare clearly that in all our actions we should take care to foresee with earnest intent what outcome awaits us, we should examine skillfully what is done according to …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. 8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. 9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Let thine eyes look right on,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
THESE words occur in a passage wherein the wise man exhorts us to take care of all parts of our nature which he indicates by members of the body. "Keep your heart," says he, "with all diligence. For out of it are the issues of life. Put away from you a disobedient mouth, and perverse lips put far from you. Let your eyes look right on and let your eyelids look straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established.
THESE words occur in a passage wherein the wise man exhorts us to take care of all parts of our nature which he indicates by members of the body. "Keep your heart," says he, "with all diligence. For out of it are the issues of life. Put away from you a disobedient mouth, and perverse lips put far from you. Let your eyes look right on and let your eyelids look straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove your foot from evil." It is clear that every part of our nature needs to be carefully watched, lest in any way it should become the cause of sin. Any one member or faculty is readily able to defile all the rest, and therefore, every part must be guarded with care. We have selected for our meditation the verse which deals with the eye. These windows of light need to be watched in their incomings, lest that which we take into our soul should be darkness rather than light. And they need to be watched in their outgoings, lest the glances of the eye should be full of iniquity, or should suggest foolish thoughts. Hence the wise man advises, "Let your eyes look right on and let your eyelids look straight before you." Have eyes and use them. Using them, take care to use them honestly. Some persons are always as if they were asleep. They go though the world moping about, seeing nothing or seeing men as if they were trees, with a sight which is not sight but blindness. The shadows of this transient life impress them and that is all—they have never awakened yet to the true life and its solemn realities. They have never seen anything in very truth—for it is faith that sees and of faith they have none. That which is apart from faith is not visible to the soul, however clear it may be to the eye.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֵ֭ינֶיךָ | ʾeineikha | eyes your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| לְנֹ֣כַח | lenokhach | <to> before | H5227 → | |
| יַבִּ֑יטוּ | yabitu | let them look | H5027 → | |
| וְ֝עַפְעַפֶּ֗יךָ | veafapeikha | and eyelids your | H6079 → | 10 times |
| יַיְשִׁ֥רוּ | yayshiru | let them look straight | H3474 → | 25 times |
| נֶגְדֶּֽךָ׃ | negdekha | before you | H5048 → | 151 times |
עֵ֭ינֶיךָeyes your
ʾeineikhaH5869 →887 times
לְנֹ֣כַח<to> before
lenokhachH5227 →
יַבִּ֑יטוּlet them look
yabituH5027 →
וְ֝עַפְעַפֶּ֗יךָand eyelids your
veafapeikhaH6079 →10 times
יַיְשִׁ֥רוּlet them look straight
yayshiruH3474 →25 times
נֶגְדֶּֽךָ׃before you
negdekhaH5048 →151 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 119:37Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.
it leads to
- 1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 33:15
He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—
- 1 John 2:16
Through
Matthew 6:22The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
it leads to
- Luke 11:34–36
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body is full of darkness.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
- Luke 11:34–36
Through
Job 31:1“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
it leads to
- James 1:14–15
But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
- Matthew 5:28–29
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
- Psalms 119:37
Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.
- Proverbs 6:25
Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
- James 1:14–15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, Peter 1:9; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2058: “"Eyes Right"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Cyril of Alexandria, LETTER 55:3; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 2:2; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.