Proverbs 4
4
Get Wisdom at Any Cost
1My sons, listen to a father’s teaching.
Pay attention and gain understanding.
2I give you good advice.
So don’t turn away from what I teach you.
3I, too, was once a young boy in my father’s house.
And my mother loved me deeply.
4Then my father taught me.
He said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart.
Keep my commands, and you will live.
5Get wisdom, and get understanding.
Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.
6Stay close to wisdom, and she will keep you safe.
Love her, and she will watch over you.
7To start being wise you must first get wisdom.
No matter what it costs, get understanding.
8Value wisdom highly, and she will lift you up.
Hold her close, and she will honor you.
9She will set a beautiful crown on your head.
She will give you a glorious crown.”
10My son, listen. Accept what I say.
Then you will live for many years.
11I instruct you in the way of wisdom.
I lead you along straight paths.
12When you walk, nothing will slow you down.
When you run, you won’t trip and fall.
13Hold on to my teaching and don’t let it go.
Guard it well, because it is your life.
14Don’t take the path of evil people.
Don’t live the way sinners do.
15Stay away from their path and don’t travel on it.
Turn away from it and go on your way.
16Sinners can’t rest until they do what is evil.
They can’t sleep until they make someone sin.
17They do evil just as easily as they eat food.
They hurt others as easily as they drink wine.
18The path of those who do right is like the sun in the morning.
It shines brighter and brighter until the full light of day.
19But the way of those who do what is wrong is like deep darkness.
They don’t know what makes them trip and fall.
20My son, pay attention to what I say.
Listen closely to my words.
21Don’t let them out of your sight.
Keep them in your heart.
22They are life to those who find them.
They are health to a person’s whole body.
23Above everything else, guard your heart.
Everything you do comes from it.
24Don’t speak with twisted words.
Keep evil talk away from your lips.
25Let your eyes look straight ahead.
Keep looking right in front of you.
26Think carefully about the paths that your feet walk on.
Always choose the right ways.
27Don’t turn to the right or left.
Keep your feet from the path of evil.
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Proverbs 4: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Proverbs 4
4
1 Listen, sons, to the discipline of a father, and pay attention, so that you may know prudence.
2 I will bestow upon you a good gift. Do not relinquish my law.
3 For I, too, was the son of my father, tender and an only son in the sight of my mother.
4 And he taught me, and he also said: "Let your heart accept my words. Keep my precepts, and you shall live.
5 Obtain wisdom, obtain prudence. May you neither forget, nor turn away from, the words of my mouth.
6 Do not send her away, and she will guard you. Love her, and she will preserve you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is to obtain wisdom, and, with all that you possess, to acquire prudence.
8 Grasp her, and she will exalt you. You will be glorified by her, when you have embraced her.
9 She will bestow upon your head an increase in graces, and she will protect you with a noble crown.
10 Listen, my son, and accept my words, so that years of life may be multiplied for you.
11 I will demonstrate to you the way of wisdom. I will lead you along the paths of equity.
12 When you have entered by these, your steps will not be constrained, and when running, you will have no obstacle.
13 Take hold of discipline. Do not dismiss it. Guard it, for it is your life.
14 Do not delight in the paths of the impious, nor permit the way of evil-doers to please you.
15 Take flight from it. Do not pass close to it. Turn away and abandon it.
16 For they do not sleep, unless they have done evil. And their sleep is quickly taken away from them, unless they have overthrown.
17 They eat the bread of impiety, and they drink the wine of iniquity.
18 But the path of the just is like a shining light: it advances and increases, even to the day of completion.
19 The way of the impious is darkened. They do not know where they may fall.
20 My son, pay attention to my sermons, and incline your ear to my eloquent words.
21 Let them not recede from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them and health to all that is flesh.
23 Preserve your heart with all watchfulness, for life proceeds from this.
24 Remove from yourself a corrupt mouth, and let detracting lips be far from you.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids precede your steps.
26 Direct the path of your feet, and all your ways shall be secure.
27 Turn aside, neither to the right, nor to the left; yet turn your foot away from evil. For the Lord knows the ways that are on the right, and truly, those that are on the left are perverse. But he himself will make your courses straight. Then your journey will advance in peace.
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