Proverbs 4
4
Cherish Wisdom
1Sons,
listen to ⌞your⌟ father’s discipline,
and pay attention in order to gain understanding.
2After all, I have taught you well.
Do not abandon my teachings.
3When I was a boy ⌞learning⌟ from my father,
when I was a tender and only child of my mother,
4they used to teach me and say to me,
“Cling to my words wholeheartedly.
Obey my commands so that you may live.
5Acquire wisdom.
Acquire understanding.
Do not forget.
Do not turn away from the words that I have spoken.
6Do not abandon wisdom, and it will watch over you.
Love wisdom, and it will protect you.
7The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom.
Acquire understanding with all that you have.
8Cherish wisdom.
It will raise you up.
It will bring you honor when you embrace it.
9It will give you a graceful garland for your head.
It will hand you a beautiful crown.”
Stay on the Path of Wisdom
10My son,
listen and accept my words,
and they will multiply the years of your life.
11I have taught you the way of wisdom.
I have guided you along decent paths.
12When you walk, your stride will not be hampered.
Even if you run, you will not stumble.
13Cling to discipline.
Do not relax your grip on it.
Keep it because it is your life.
14Do not stray onto the path of wicked people.
Do not walk in the way of evil people.
15Avoid it.
Do not walk near it.
Turn away from it,
and keep on walking.
16Wicked people cannot sleep
unless they do wrong,
and they are robbed of their sleep
unless they make someone stumble.
17They eat food obtained through wrongdoing
and drink wine obtained through violence.
18But the path of righteous people is like the light of dawn
that becomes brighter and brighter until it reaches midday.
19The way of wicked people is like deep darkness.
They do not know what makes them stumble.
Stay Focused on Wisdom
20My son,
pay attention to my words.
Open your ears to what I say.
21Do not lose sight of these things.
Keep them deep within your heart
22because they are life to those who find them
and they heal the whole body.
23Guard your heart more than anything else,
because the source of your life flows from it.
24Remove dishonesty from your mouth.
Put deceptive speech far away from your lips.
25Let your eyes look straight ahead
and your sight be focused in front of you.
26Carefully walk a straight path,
and all your ways will be secure.
27Do not lean to the right or to the left.
Walk away from evil.
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Proverbs 4: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
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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