Proverbs 4:4
New International Version
Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.

New Living Translation
My father taught me, “Take my words to heart. Follow my commands, and you will live.

English Standard Version
he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

Berean Standard Bible
he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.

King James Bible
He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

New King James Version
He also taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live.

New American Standard Bible
He taught me and said to me, “Let your heart take hold of my words; Keep my commandments and live;

NASB 1995
Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live;

NASB 1977
Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live;

Legacy Standard Bible
Then he instructed me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live;

Amplified Bible
He taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live.

Christian Standard Bible
he taught me and said, “Your heart must hold on to my words. Keep my commands and live.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
he taught me and said:” Your heart must hold on to my words. Keep my commands and live.

American Standard Version
And he taught me, and said unto me: Let thy heart retain my words; Keep my commandments, and live;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he taught me and said to me, "Confirm my word in your heart; keep my commandments and live, and my law like the pupils of the eyes.”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
who spoke and instructed me, saying, Let our speech be fixed in thine heart, keep our commandments, forget them not:

Contemporary English Version
said to me: "If you follow my teachings and keep them in mind, you will live.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.

English Revised Version
And he taught me, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words; keep my commandments, and live:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
they used to teach me and say to me, "Cling to my words wholeheartedly. Obey my commands so that you may live.

Good News Translation
my father would teach me. He would say, "Remember what I say and never forget it. Do as I tell you, and you will live.

International Standard Version
he taught me and told me, "Let your heart fully embrace what I have to say; keep my commandments and live!

JPS Tanakh 1917
And he taught me, and said unto me: 'Let thy heart hold fast my words, Keep my commandments, and live;

Literal Standard Version
And he directs me, and he says to me: “Let your heart retain my words, | Keep my commands, and live.

Majority Standard Bible
he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.

New American Bible
He taught me and said to me: “Let your heart hold fast my words: keep my commands, and live!

NET Bible
he taught me, and he said to me: "Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands so that you will live.

New Revised Standard Version
he taught me, and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

New Heart English Bible
He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

Webster's Bible Translation
He taught me also, and said to me, Let thy heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

World English Bible
He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

Young's Literal Translation
And he directeth me, and he saith to me: 'Let thy heart retain my words, Keep my commands, and live.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A Father's Instruction
3When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother, 4he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live. 5Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.…

Cross References
Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Psalm 119:168
I obey Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are before You.

Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

Proverbs 23:26
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.


Treasury of Scripture

He taught me also, and said to me, Let your heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

He

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Genesis 18:19
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

1 Chronicles 22:11-16
Now, my son, the LORD be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the LORD thy God, as he hath said of thee…

Let

Proverbs 3:1
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

Deuteronomy 6:6
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

keep

Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

Leviticus 18:3-5
After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances…

Isaiah 55:3
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

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Proverbs 4
1. persuades to wisdom
14. and to show wickedness
20. He exhorts to sanctification














(4) He taught me also.--Comp. David's advice to Solomon (l Chron. 28:9, 10).

Verse 4. - From this verse to ver. 19 inclusive, the teacher quotes the instruction which he had received of his father. His object in doing so is to show that his own teaching was in harmony with it, and therefore worthy of attention. His precepts, admonitions, and warnings are not his only, but those of his father. Other examples of David's instructions to Solomon are found in 1 Kings 2:2; 1 Chronicles 22:12, 13; 1 Chronicles 28:9. And he taught; i.e. his father, for vayyoreni is masculine. The LXX. renders, "They said and taught me (οι{ ἔλεγον καὶ ἐδιδασκόν με)," as if the precepts which follow were the combined teaching of David and Bathsheba. This variation is due to the mention of both parents in the preceding verse. Retain; yith'mok, kal future, used imperatively, of thamak, "to take hold of," and metaphorically, as here, "to hold fast" (see Proverbs 3:18). The LXX. Renders ἐρειδέτω, imperative of ἐρείδω, "to fix firm." Symmachus has κατεχέτω, "give heed to." And live; i.e. and thou shalt live, as the kal imperative, kh'yeh, from khayah, "to live," has here the force of the future (cf. Vulgate, et vives). The meaning is, "And thou shalt enjoy a long and happy life." Temporal life alone seems to be indicated, as in ver. 10 (cf. Proverbs 3:2). The Syriac addition, "And my law as the apple of thine eye," is probably borrowed from Proverbs 7:2, where we meet with the mine admonition.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
he taught
וַיֹּרֵ֗נִי (way·yō·rê·nî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common singular
Strong's 3384: To flow as water, to lay, throw, to point out, to teach

me and said,
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“Let your heart
לִבֶּ֑ךָ (lib·be·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

lay hold
יִֽתְמָךְ־ (yiṯ·māḵ-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 8551: To sustain, to obtain, keep fast, to help, follow close

of my words;
דְּבָרַ֥י (də·ḇā·ray)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1697: A word, a matter, thing, a cause

keep
שְׁמֹ֖ר (šə·mōr)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 8104: To hedge about, guard, to protect, attend to

my commandments
מִצְוֺתַ֣י (miṣ·wō·ṯay)
Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 4687: Commandment

and you will live.
וֶֽחְיֵֽה׃ (weḥ·yêh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 2421: To live, to revive


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 4:4 He taught me and said to me: (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 4:3
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