Proverbs 2:11
in Proverbs 2Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:
KJV
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
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This verse in Proverbs 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verseWe read in sacred Scripture, dearly beloved, that holy counsel should keep those who are solicitous for their soul's salvation, as the divine Word puts it: "Holy counsel shall keep you." If holy counsel keeps a soul, that which is unholy not only fails to …
This site's exposition
For wisdom will enter your heart
on Proverbs 2:10-11
“For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul” marks the turn from instruction heard to wisdom possessed. “Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you” names the two guards. The chapter is built on deliverance, two dangers named and two rescues promised.
This site's exposition
Discretion will watch over you
Discretion translates mezimmah, a word that can mean a wicked scheme and here means a good plan. Adam Clarke notes that Coverdale rendered it counsel, a mind that devises good. At 12:2 the same word marks the man of wicked schemes.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Counsel will guard you, etc. The evil way, the works of iniquity; the man speaking perversely, he calls the teachers of iniquitous behavior. The evil way, onto which they call those who say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood. The perverse …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Discretion shall preserve thee,.... Which wisdom or the Gospel gives, or the Lord by the means of it; for the Gospel makes a man wise and discreet in the business of salvation, and in his conduct and deportment; and the discretion it gives him will put him upon his guard, and direct him to watch against every error, and every false way. And so the words may be rendered, "discretion will watch over thee"; to keep thee from everything pernicious in doctrine and practice.
When it not only fills the head with notions, but enters into the heart and has a commanding power and influence upon that,--when it is upon the throne there, and gives law to the affections and passions,--when it enters into the heart as the leaven into the dough, to diffuse its relish there, and to change it into its own image--then it is likely to do us good.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Discretion shall preserve thee - מזמה mezimmah. See on Pro 1:4 (note). Here the word is taken in a good sense, a good device. The man invents purposes of good; and all his schemes, plans, and devices, have for their object God’s glory and the good of man: he deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things he shall stand. Coverdale translates, “Then shall Counsel preserve thee.” A very good translation, much better than the present.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
who speaks perversity Those are the people who distort the thing. [Rashi as it appears in Lublin and Waxman ed.] Malbim ed. reads: who distorts the words of the Torah after his erroneous view.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מְ֭זִמָּה | mezimah | discretion | H4209 → | 19 times |
| תִּשְׁמֹ֥ר | tishmor | it will watch | H8104 → | 468 times |
| עָלֶ֗יךָ | ʾaleikha | over you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| תְּבוּנָ֥ה | tevunah | understanding | H8394 → | 42 times |
| תִנְצְרֶֽכָּה׃ | tintzerekah | it will preserve you | H5341 → | 63 times |
מְ֭זִמָּהdiscretion
mezimahH4209 →19 times
תִּשְׁמֹ֥רit will watch
tishmorH8104 →468 times
עָלֶ֗יךָover you
ʾaleikhaH5921 →5755 times
תְּבוּנָ֥הunderstanding
tevunahH8394 →42 times
תִנְצְרֶֽכָּה׃it will preserve you
tintzerekahH5341 →63 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
Ephesians 5:15Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
it leads to
- Colossians 4:5
Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 14:20
Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- James 3:13
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
- Philippians 1:27
Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm…
- Proverbs 14:8
The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them.
- Colossians 4:5
Through
Psalms 25:21May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.
it leads to
- Proverbs 11:3
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the faithless destroys them.
- Psalms 41:12
In my integrity You uphold me and set me in Your presence forever.
- Proverbs 11:3
Through
Proverbs 4:6Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.
it leads to
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10
and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 45:1; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.