Proverbs 23:26
in Proverbs 23My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My son, give me thy heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways.
KJV
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
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This verse in Proverbs 23
Commentary
9 notes on this verseMy son, give me thine heart - This is the speech of God to every human soul; give thy affections to God, so as to love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. And let thine eyes observe my ways - Be obedient to me in all things. My son, thou believest that I Am, and that I Am the Fountain of all good. Give me thy heart; it is I alone who can make thee happy. Observe my ways - follow me; do what is right in my sight. This exhortation contains three words: Believe, Love, Obey!
This site's exposition
My son, give me your heart
on Proverbs 23:26-28
"My son, give me your heart" opens directly into a warning: "a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well." The two images share one danger, a fall a man does not see coming and cannot easily climb out of.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
If you don't give yourself, you will lose yourself. Charity herself speaks through wisdom and tells you something to save you from panicking at being told, "Give yourself." If anyone wanted to sell you a farm he would say to you, "Give me your gold," and if it was something else, "Give me your coppers," "Give me your silver." Now listen to what charity says to you, speaking through the mouth of wisdom: "Give me your heart, son. Give me," she says. Give her what? "Your heart, son." It was ill when it was with you, when you kept it to yourself. You were being pulled this way and that by toys and trifles and wanton, destructive loves. Take your heart away from all that. Where are you to drag it to, where are you to put it? "Give me your heart," she says. "Let it be mine, and it won't be lost to you."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
My son, give me thine heart,....
Our eyes must observe these, as he that writes observes his copy, that we may keep in the right paths and may proceed and persevere in them. Some particular cautions against those sins which are, of all sins, the most destructive to the seeds of wisdom and grace in the soul, which impoverish and ruin it.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
THESE are the words of Solomon speaking in the name of Wisdom, which wisdom is but another name for the Lord Jesus Christ, who is made of God unto us Wisdom. If you ask, "What is the highest wisdom upon the earth?" it is to believe in Jesus Christ whom God has sent—to become His follower and disciple—to trust Him and imitate Him. It is God, in the Person of His dear Son, who says to each one of us, "My son, give Me your heart." Can we answer, "Lord, I have given You my heart"?
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
A solemn warning against whoredom and drunkenness (Ho 4:11). give me--This is the address of that divine wisdom so often presented (Pr 8:1; 9:3, &c.). heart--confidence. observe--keep. my ways--such as I teach you (Pr 3:17;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
THESE are the words of Solomon speaking in the name of Wisdom, which wisdom is but another name for the Lord Jesus Christ, who is made of God unto us Wisdom. If you ask, "What is the highest wisdom upon the earth?" it is to believe in Jesus Christ whom God has sent—to become His follower and disciple—to trust Him and imitate Him. It is God, in the Person of His dear Son, who says to each one of us, "My son, give Me your heart." Can we answer, "Lord, I have given You my heart"? Then we are His sons! Let us cry, "Abba, Father," and bless the Lord for the high privilege of being His children. "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." I. Let us look at this precept, "My son, give Me your heart," and notice, first, that LOVE PROMPTS THIS REQUEST OF WISDOM. Only love seeks after love. If I desire the love of another, it can surely only be because I, myself, have love toward him. We care not to be loved by those whom we do not love. It were an embarrassment rather than an advantage to receive love from those to whom we would not return it. When God asks human love, it is because God is Love. As the sparks mount toward the sun, the central fire, so ought our love rise toward God, the central source of all pure and holy love. It is an instance of infinite condescension that God should say, "My son, give Me your heart." Notice the strange position in which it puts God and man. The usual position is for the creature to say to God, "Give me"—but here the Creator cries to feeble man, "Give Me." The Great Benefactor, Himself, becomes the Petitioner—stands at the door of His own creatures and asks, not for offerings, nor for words of praise, but for their hearts! Oh, it must be because of the great love of God that He condescends to put Himself into such a position.
Modern Voices1 voice
Before any cosmic act of reform we must have a cosmic oath of allegiance. A man must be interested in life, then he could be disinterested in his views of it. "My son give me thy heart"; the heart must be fixed on the right …
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּנָֽה־ | tenah- | give ! | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| בְנִ֣י | veni | O son my | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לִבְּךָ֣ | libekha | heart your | H3820 → | 595 times |
| לִ֑י | li | to me | ||
| וְ֝עֵינֶ֗יךָ | veeineikha | and eyes your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| דְּרָכַ֥י | derakhai | ways my | H1870 → | 707 times |
| תִּצֹּֽרְנָה׃ | tirtzenah | let them observe | H5341 → | 63 times |
תְּנָֽה־give !
tenah-H5414 →2011 times
בְנִ֣יO son my
veniH1121 →4930 times
לִבְּךָ֣heart your
libekhaH3820 →595 times
לִ֑יto me
li
וְ֝עֵינֶ֗יךָand eyes your
veeineikhaH5869 →887 times
דְּרָכַ֥יways my
derakhaiH1870 →707 times
תִּצֹּֽרְנָה׃let them observe
tirtzenahH5341 →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
Deuteronomy 6:5And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
it leads to
- Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
- Matthew 22:37
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Deuteronomy 10:12
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your…
- Deuteronomy 30:6
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
- Mark 12:30
Through
Psalms 119:2Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
- Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Psalms 119:10
With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.
- Jeremiah 29:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 34:7; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1995: “The Heart—a Gift for God” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy, Ch. 5: The Flag of the World (1908); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.