Proverbs 4:23
Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
BSB
ASV
Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.
KJV
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
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.
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?
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Proverbs 13:3He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.
leads to
He who guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from distress.
Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.
Through
Luke 6:45The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow…
leads to
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”
The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.
