Proverbs 4:3
in Proverbs 4When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For I was a son unto my father, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
KJV
For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
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This verse in Proverbs 4
Commentary
6 notes on this verseFor I was my father's son,.... Or, "a son to my father" (p); so Solomon was to God, his heavenly Father, 2Sa 7:14; which Jarchi observes, and gives as the sense of this place: but his father David is meant, whose son he was; though he was not his only one, he had others besides him.
This site's exposition
Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction
on Proverbs 4:1-4
The appeal doubles as autobiography: Solomon was once the son taught by his father, and was told, “Let your heart lay hold of my words”. Three generations stand inside these four verses, and the doubling shows that wisdom is received before it can be given.
This site's exposition
the only child of my mother
Solomon was a tender son to his father and the only child of his mother, though Bathsheba bore four sons by 1 Chronicles 3:5. Only child marks the one most loved. Matthew Henry compares Isaac, the son on whom the covenant rested.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
For I too was a son to my father, tender, etc. Nothing more raises the mind to the hope of attaining wisdom than when we remember that those whom we admire as already shining in wisdom were once little and unlearned. And he taught me …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Observe, (1.) His parents loved him, and therefore taught him: I was my father's son. David had many sons, but Solomon was his son indeed, as Isaac is called ( Gen. xvii. 19 ) and for the same reason, because on him the covenant was entailed.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Probably the words of Solomon himself, who looks back from his glorious throne and his matured wisdom to the training which was the starting point. The part taken by Bathsheba in 1 Kings 1, no less than the friendship between her and Nathan, indicates that a mother’s training might well have laid the foundation of the king’s future wisdom. Among the Israelites and Egyptians alone, of the nations of the old world, was the son’s reverence for the mother placed side by side with that which he owed to his father.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| בֵ֭ן | ven | a son | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| הָיִ֣יתִי | hayiti | I was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לְאָבִ֑י | leavi | of father my | H1 → | 1212 times |
| רַ֥ךְ | rakh | tender | H7390 → | 16 times |
| וְ֝יָחִ֗יד | veyachid | and only [child] | H3173 → | |
| לִפְנֵ֥י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| אִמִּֽי׃ | ʾimi | mother my | H517 → | 220 times |
כִּי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
בֵ֭ןa son
venH1121 →4930 times
הָיִ֣יתִיI was
hayitiH1961 →3559 times
לְאָבִ֑יof father my
leaviH1 →1212 times
רַ֥ךְtender
rakhH7390 →16 times
וְ֝יָחִ֗ידand only [child]
veyachidH3173 →
לִפְנֵ֥י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
אִמִּֽי׃mother my
ʾimiH517 →220 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
Jeremiah 10:23I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:24
A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?
- Psalms 37:23
The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey.
- Proverbs 16:1
The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the LORD.
- Psalms 119:116–117
Sustain me as You promised, that I may live; let me not be ashamed of my hope.
- Psalms 17:5
My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.
- Proverbs 20:24
Through
Zechariah 12:10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They…
it leads to
- Revelation 1:7
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.
- Revelation 1:7
Through
Romans 12:16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 3:8
Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.
- Proverbs 3:7
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
- 1 Peter 3:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; 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.