Proverbs 4:3

Easy-to-Read Version

When I was my father's little boy and my mother's dear son,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When I was a son with my father,tender and precious to my mother,

Hebrew Names Version
For I was a son to my father, Tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.

King James Version
For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

English Standard Version
When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

New Century Version
When I was a young boy in my father's house and like an only child to my mother,

New English Translation
When I was a son to my father, a tender only child before my mother,

Amplified Bible
When I was a son with my father (David), Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother (Bathsheba),

New American Standard Bible
When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

World English Bible
For I was a son to my father, Tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For I was my fathers sonne, tender and deare in the sight of my mother,

Legacy Standard Bible
When I was a son to my father,Tender and the only son before my mother,

Berean Standard Bible
When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,

Contemporary English Version
When I was still very young and my mother's favorite child, my father

Complete Jewish Bible
For I too was once a child to my father; and my mother, too, thought of me as her special darling.

Darby Translation
For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.

George Lamsa Translation
For I was also a son to my father, tender and the only begotten in the sight of my mother.

Good News Translation
When I was only a little boy, my parents' only son,

Lexham English Bible
When I was a son to my father, tender and alone before my mother,

Literal Translation
For I was my father's son, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For when I myself was my fathers deare sonne, and tenderly beloued of my mother,

American Standard Version
For I was a son unto my father, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

Bible in Basic English
For I was a son to my father, a gentle and an only one to my mother.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.

King James Version (1611)
For I was my fathers sonne, tender and onely beloued in the sight of my mother.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For when I my selfe was my fathers deare sonne, and tenderly beloued of my mother:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For I also was a son obedient to my father, and loved in the sight of my mother:

English Revised Version
For I was a son unto my father, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For whi and Y was the sone of my fadir, a tendir sone, and oon `gendride bifore my modir.

Update Bible Version
For I was a son to my father, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

Webster's Bible Translation
For I was my father's son, tender and only [beloved] in the sight of my mother.

New King James Version
When I was my father's son, Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother,

New Living Translation
For I, too, was once my father's son, tenderly loved as my mother's only child.

New Life Bible
When I was a much loved and only son of my mother and father,

New Revised Standard
When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother's favorite,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, a son, became I to my father, tender and most precious in the sight of my mother.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For I also was my father’s son, tender, and as an only son in the sight of my mother:

Revised Standard Version
When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

Young's Literal Translation
For, a son I have been to my father -- tender, And an only one before my mother.

THE MESSAGE
When I was a boy at my father's knee, the pride and joy of my mother, He would sit me down and drill me: "Take this to heart. Do what I tell you—live! Sell everything and buy Wisdom! Forage for Understanding! Don't forget one word! Don't deviate an inch! Never walk away from Wisdom—she guards your life; love her—she keeps her eye on you. Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding! Throw your arms around her—believe me, you won't regret it; never let her go—she'll make your life glorious. She'll garland your life with grace, she'll festoon your days with beauty."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

Contextual Overview

¹ Children, listen to your father's teaching. Pay attention and you will learn how to learn. ² The advice I give is good, so don't ever forget what I teach you. ³ When I was my father's little boy and my mother's dear son, ⁴ my father taught me this: "Pay attention to what I say. Obey my commands and you will have a good life. ⁵ Try to get wisdom and understanding. Don't forget my teaching or ignore what I say. ⁶ Don't turn away from wisdom, and she will protect you. Love her, and she will keep you safe. ⁷ "The first step to becoming wise is to look for wisdom, so use everything you have to get understanding. ⁸ Love wisdom, and she will make you great. Hold on to wisdom, and she will bring you honor. ⁹ Wisdom will reward you with a crown of honor and glory." ¹⁰ Son, listen to me. Do what I say, and you will live a long time.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

2 Samuel 12:24, 2 Samuel 12:25, 1 Kings 1:13-17, 1 Chronicles 3:5, 1 Chronicles 22:5, 1 Chronicles 29:1, Jeremiah 10:23, Romans 12:16

Reciprocal: Proverbs 6:35 - regard

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Cain. Eve said, "With the Lord 's help, I have made a man!"

Numbers 18:12
"And I give you all the best olive oil and all the best new wine and grain. These are the things that the Israelites give to me, the Lord . These are the first things that they gather in their harvest.

1 Kings 17:7
There was no rain, so after a while the stream became dry.

Nehemiah 13:6
I was not in Jerusalem while all of this was happening. I had gone back to the king of Babylon. I went back to Babylon in the 32nd year that Artaxerxes was king of Babylon. Later, I asked the king for permission to go back to Jerusalem.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For I was my father's son,.... Or, "a son to my father" p; so Solomon was to God, his heavenly Father, 2 Samuel 7:14; which Jarchi observes, and gives as the sense of this place: but his father David is meant, whose son he was; though he was not his only one, he had others besides him. But the sense is, that he was his darling, his beloved son, whom he loved above the rest; as he was beloved of the Lord, and therefore his name was called Jedidiah, so he was beloved of his father; and, because he had a peculiar love for him, he took a particular care of his education;

tender and only [beloved] in the sight of my mother; his mother Bathsheba, who had a most affectionate regard to him; and therefore in his tender age, as soon as he was susceptible of instructions, gave them to him, which being received, made deep and lasting impressions on him; see Proverbs 31:1. The marginal reading is, "to the sons of my mother"; for Bathsheba had more sons, 1 Chronicles 3:5; both readings may be retained, "beloved in the sight of my mother's sons". Gersom interprets this of the people of Israel, who were sons to God their Father; and were the only nation that received the law, and which they received at the time of their coming out of Egypt, in the days of their youth.

p בן הייתי לאבי "filius fui patri meo", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Cocceius, Schultens.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Probably the words of Solomon himself, who looks back from his glorious throne and his matured wisdom to the training which was the starting point. The part taken by Bathsheba in 1 Kings 1:0, no less than the friendship between her and Nathan, indicates that a mother’s training might well have laid the foundation of the king’s future wisdom. Among the Israelites and Egyptians alone, of the nations of the old world, was the son’s reverence for the mother placed side by side with that which he owed to his father.

Only beloved, - literally “only,” but the word is used apparently (as in Genesis 22:2, Genesis 22:12) in its derived sense, “beloved like an only son.” The Vulgate gives “unigenitus.” Compare the words applied to our Lord, as the “only begotten” John 1:14, the “beloved” Ephesians 1:6.