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Proverbs 4 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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A Father’s Wise Instruction

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:1 - Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain[fn] insight,
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:2 - for I give you good precepts;
do not forsake my teaching.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:3 - When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:4 - he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:5 - Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:6 - Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:7 - The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:8 - Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:9 - She will place on your head a graceful garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:10 - Hear, my son, and accept my words,
that the years of your life may be many.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:11 - I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:12 - When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:13 - Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:14 - Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of the evil.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:15 - Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:16 - For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:17 - For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:18 - But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:19 - The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:20 - My son, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:21 - Let them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:22 - For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to all their[fn] flesh.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:23 - Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:24 - Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:25 - Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:26 - Ponder[fn] the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 4:27 - Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew know
Hebrew his
Or Make level
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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