Proverbs 7:2
in Proverbs 7Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye.
KJV
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
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This verse in Proverbs 7
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAs the apple of thine eye - As the pupil of the eye, which is of such essential necessity to sight, and so easily injured.
This site's exposition
My son, keep my words
on Proverbs 7:1-5
The father's appeal opens exactly as chapters 2, 3 and 6 have opened it, commandments bound on the fingers and written on the table of the heart, and the bench reads the repetition as intentional rather than tired: a son does not learn this once. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister makes the safeguard relational, a kinship claimed on wisdom before the stranger's flattery ever arrives, so that the whole chapter's warning is framed before the chapter's story begins. The purpose is stated plainly at verse 5, that they may keep thee from the strange woman, and everything that follows is the case for why the guard is needed.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The third benefit of the observance of God's commandments is the attainment of heavenly rewards. Whence it is said in Proverbs: "Keep my commandments, and you shall live; and my law as the pupil of the eye." This is the reason why God gave the …
And my law as the apple of your eye. Keep what I teach as diligently as if nothing right could be seen without it.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
8 ) if we be in like manner tender of his law and afraid of the least violation of it. Those who reproach strict and circumspect walking, as needless preciseness, consider not that the law is to be kept as the apple of the eye, for indeed it is the apple of our eye; the law is light; the law in the heart is the eye of the soul.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
Keep my commandments and live,....
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שְׁמֹ֣ר | shemor | keep | H8104 → | 468 times |
| מִצְוֹתַ֣י | mitzvotai | commandments my | H4687 → | 181 times |
| וֶחְיֵ֑ה | vechyeh | and live | H2421 → | 282 times |
| וְ֝תוֹרָתִ֗י | vetorati | and instruction my | H8451 → | 219 times |
| כְּאִישׁ֥וֹן | keishon | like [the] pupil of | H380 → | 5 times |
| עֵינֶֽיךָ׃ | ʾeineikha | eyes your | H5869 → | 887 times |
שְׁמֹ֣רkeep
shemorH8104 →468 times
מִצְוֹתַ֣יcommandments my
mitzvotaiH4687 →181 times
וֶחְיֵ֑הand live
vechyehH2421 →282 times
וְ֝תוֹרָתִ֗יand instruction my
vetoratiH8451 →219 times
כְּאִישׁ֥וֹןlike [the] pupil of
keishonH380 →5 times
עֵינֶֽיךָ׃eyes your
ʾeineikhaH5869 →887 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
Proverbs 4:4he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.
it leads to
- Proverbs 3:1
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;
- Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
- Proverbs 3:1
Through
Psalms 17:8Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
- Psalms 91:4
He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.
- Psalms 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
- Psalms 61:4
Let me dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah
- Zechariah 2:8
For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—
- Deuteronomy 32:10
Through
Leviticus 18:5Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the LORD.
it leads to
- Galatians 3:12
The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”
- Galatians 3:12
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.