Proverbs 4
The full text of Proverbs 4 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 Listen, children, to a father's discipline,
and pay attention, that you may gain understanding,
2 for I give you good teaching;
do not forsake my instruction.
3 When I was a son with my father,
tender and the only one in my mother's sight,
4 he taught me and said to me,
"Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commands, and live.
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget, and do not turn from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will guard you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and with all your getting, get understanding.
8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head a graceful garland;
a crown of beauty she will bestow on you."
10 Listen, my son, and receive my words,
and the years of your life will be many.
11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in paths of uprightness.
12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Hold fast to discipline; do not let go.
Guard her, for she is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it; do not pass through it.
Turn away from it, and pass on.
16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done evil;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
shining brighter and brighter until full day.
19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.
20 My son, pay attention to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them slip from your sight;
keep them within your heart,
22 for they are life to those who find them
and healing to all their flesh.
23 Guard your heart above all else,
for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
and your gaze be fixed before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet,
and let all your ways be established.
27 Do not turn to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.
Translation notes (7)
- Proverbs 4:3a Yachid (יָחִיד), 'only one', denotes the uniquely cherished child, the same word used of Isaac in Genesis 22:2. Since Solomon had brothers (1 Chronicles 3:5), the term signals singular affection in his mother's eyes rather than literal only-child status; the Septuagint accordingly renders it agapōmenos, 'beloved'.
- Proverbs 4:7a The Hebrew reshit chokhmah qeneh chokhmah is elliptical and may be read either as "the beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom" or as "wisdom is supreme; get wisdom." The verb qanah, 'acquire', carries commercial overtones, echoed by the cognate noun qinyan, 'getting'. This verse is absent from the Septuagint of Proverbs, which passes directly from verse 6 to verse 8.
- Proverbs 4:9a The verb miggen, 'to bestow', is rare, appearing elsewhere in Genesis 14:20 and Hosea 11:8, and here depicts wisdom conferring royal honors. The paired gifts, livyat chen, 'a graceful garland', and ateret tif'eret, 'a crown of beauty', evoke the wreaths and diadems of ancient Near Eastern investiture, so that the one who embraces wisdom is honored like a king.
- Proverbs 4:18a The phrase rendered 'full day' translates nekhon hayyom, literally 'the established day', an idiom for noon, when the sun stands at full strength. The image of the righteous walking a path that brightens from dawn to midday stands in deliberate contrast to the deep darkness of verse 19, a light-and-darkness antithesis later developed in Second Temple and New Testament writings.
- Proverbs 4:22a The Hebrew marpe (מַרְפֵּא), 'healing', is a medical term derived from the verb rapha, 'to heal', used elsewhere of the cure of bodily disease. The proverb thus presents wisdom's words as medicine for the whole person, an image continued in the next verse's concern for the heart as the source of life.
- Proverbs 4:23a Hebrew lev (לֵב), 'heart', denotes the seat of thought, will, and moral judgment, not merely emotion. The opening phrase mikkol-mishmar is literally 'more than all guarding', making this vigilance exceed every other watch a person keeps. Totse'ot chayyim, 'outgoings of life', pictures the heart as the wellspring from which the whole of life issues.
- Proverbs 4:27a The idiom of turning neither yamin usmol, 'right nor left', echoes Deuteronomic covenant language, where the same phrase marks unwavering obedience to God's commands (Deuteronomy 5:32; 28:14; Joshua 1:7). Its use here casts the pursuit of wisdom as a matter of covenant fidelity, not mere prudence.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Hebrew and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Proverbs, is free to read here on the web.
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