Proverbs 4:5

Amplified Bible

"Get [skillful and godly] wisdom! Acquire understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation]! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Get wisdom, get understanding;don’t forget or turn away from the words from my mouth.

Hebrew Names Version
Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.

King James Version
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

English Standard Version
Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

New Century Version
Get wisdom and understanding. Don't forget or ignore my words.

New English Translation
Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding; do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak.

New American Standard Bible
Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

World English Bible
Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Get wisedom: get vnderstading: forget not, neither decline from the woordes of my mouth.

Legacy Standard Bible
Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!Do not forget and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.

Berean Standard Bible
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.

Contemporary English Version
Be wise and learn good sense; remember my teachings and do what I say.

Complete Jewish Bible
gain wisdom, gain insight; don't forget or turn from the words I am saying.

Darby Translation
Get wisdom, get intelligence: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Easy-to-Read Version
Try to get wisdom and understanding. Don't forget my teaching or ignore what I say.

George Lamsa Translation
Get wisdom, get understanding; and turn not aside from the words of my mouth.

Good News Translation
Get wisdom and insight! Do not forget or ignore what I say.

Lexham English Bible
Get wisdom and insight; do not forget and do not turn from the sayings of my mouth.

Literal Translation
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forsake and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Get the wy?dome, get the vnderstondinge, forget not ye wordes of my mouth, & shreke not from them.

American Standard Version
Get wisdom, get understanding; Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

Bible in Basic English
Get wisdom, get true knowledge; keep it in memory, do not be turned away from the words of my mouth.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

King James Version (1611)
Get wisedome, get vnderstanding: forget it not, neither decline from the wordes of my mouth.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Get thee wysdome, and get thee vnderstanding: forget not the wordes of my mouth, and shrinke not from them.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and do not neglect the speech of my mouth.

English Revised Version
Get wisdom, get understanding; forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Welde thou wisdom, welde thou prudence; foryete thou not, nethir bowe thou awey fro the wordis of my mouth.

Update Bible Version
Get wisdom, get understanding; Don't forget, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

Webster's Bible Translation
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

New King James Version
Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

New Living Translation
Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don't forget my words or turn away from them.

New Life Bible
Get wisdom and understanding. Do not forget or turn away from the words of my mouth.

New Revised Standard
Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding, Do not forget, neither decline thou from the sayings of my mouth.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Revised Standard Version
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Get wisdom; get insight.

Young's Literal Translation
Get wisdom, get understanding, Do not forget, nor turn away From the sayings of my mouth.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

Contextual Overview

¹Hear, O children, the instruction of a father, And pay attention [and be willing to learn] so that you may gain understanding and intelligent discernment. ²For I give you good doctrine; Do not turn away from my instruction. ³When I was a son with my father (David), Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother (Bathsheba), ⁴He taught me and said to me, "Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live. ⁵"Get [skillful and godly] wisdom! Acquire understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation]! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.⁶"Do not turn away from her (Wisdom) and she will guard and protect you; Love her, and she will watch over you. ⁷"The beginning of wisdom is: Get [skillful and godly] wisdom [it is preeminent]! And with all your acquiring, get understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation]. ⁸"Prize wisdom [and exalt her], and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her. ⁹"She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty and glory." ¹⁰Hear, my son, and accept my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Get wisdom: Proverbs 1:22, Proverbs 1:23, Proverbs 2:2-4, Proverbs 3:13-18, Proverbs 8:5, Proverbs 17:16, Proverbs 18:1, Proverbs 19:8, Proverbs 23:23, James 1:5

neither: 2 Chronicles 34:2, Job 23:11, Psalms 44:18, Psalms 119:51, Psalms 119:157

Reciprocal: Psalms 90:12 - that Proverbs 8:11 - wisdom Proverbs 11:9 - through Proverbs 18:15 - General Ecclesiastes 2:13 - I saw Luke 8:12 - then 2 Thessalonians 2:10 - they received Hebrews 12:5 - ye have forgotten

Cross-References

Genesis 4:10
The LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's [innocent] blood is crying out to Me from the ground [for justice].

Genesis 4:11
"And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's [shed] blood from your hand.

Genesis 31:2
Jacob noticed [a change in] the attitude of Laban, and saw that it was not friendly toward him as before.

Genesis 31:5
and he said to them, "I see [a change in] your father's attitude, that he is not friendly toward me as [he was] before; but the God of my father [Isaac] has been with me.

Numbers 16:15
Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, "Pay no attention to their offering! I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them."

Job 5:2
"For anger slays the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple (naive).

Psalms 20:3
May He remember all your meal offerings And accept your burnt offering. Selah.

Matthew 20:15
'Am I not lawfully permitted to do what I choose with what is mine? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?'

Acts 13:45
But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things said by Paul, and were slandering him.

Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which it was testified of him that he was righteous (upright, in right standing with God), and God testified by accepting his gifts. And though he died, yet through [this act of] faith he still speaks.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Get wisdom, get understanding,.... Not only moral and political wisdom and understanding, but that which is spiritual and evangelical; Christ, and the knowledge of him; he being the only happy man that has an interest in him, and is possessed of him by faith, which is the meaning of getting him; :-; by which it appears, that what Solomon had before delivered, and afterwards repeats and urges, was the same his father David, that wise, great, and good man, taught him; and which he mentions, the more to recommend the getting of wisdom and understanding to others;

forget [it] not; when gotten, keep it in remembrance; be continually meditating on Wisdom, or Christ, his glories and excellencies; the fulness of grace and truth in him; the blessings of goodness which come by him; the great use and profit of having and enjoying him;

neither decline from the words of my mouth; the above instructions, and all others he gave unto him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The counsel which has come to him, in substance, from his father. Compare it with 2 Samuel 23:2 etc.; 1 Chronicles 28:9; 1 Chronicles 29:17; Psalms 15:1-5; Psalms 24:1-10; Psalms 37:0.

Proverbs 4:7

Or, “The beginning of wisdom is - get wisdom.” To seek is to find, to desire is to obtain.

Proverbs 4:12

The ever-recurring parable of the journey of life. In the way of wisdom the path is clear and open, obstacles disappear; in the quickest activity (“when thou runnest”) there is no risk of falling.

Proverbs 4:13

She is thy life - Another parallel between personified Wisdom in this book and the Incarnate Wisdom in John 1:4.

Proverbs 4:16

A fearful stage of debasement. Sin is the condition without which there can be no repose.

Proverbs 4:17

i. e., Bread and wine gained by unjust deeds. Compare Amos 2:8. A less probable interpretation is, “They eat wickedness as bread, and drink violence as wine.” Compare Job 15:16; Job 34:7.

Proverbs 4:18

Shining ... shineth - The two Hebrew words are different; the first having the sense of bright or clear. The beauty of a cloudless sunshine growing on, shining as it goes, to the full and perfect day, is chosen as the fittest figure of the ever increasing brightness of the good man’s life. Compare the marginal reference.

Proverbs 4:19

Compare our Lord’s teaching John 11:10; John 12:35.

Proverbs 4:20

The teacher speaks again in his own person.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 4:5. Get wisdom — True religion is essential to thy happiness; never forget its teachings, nor go aside from the path it prescribes.