Proverbs 5:1

King James Version

My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
My son, pay attention to my wisdom;

Hebrew Names Version
My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:

English Standard Version
My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

New Century Version
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen to my words of understanding.

New English Translation
My child, be attentive to my wisdom, pay close attention to my understanding,

Amplified Bible
My son, be attentive to my wisdom [godly wisdom learned by costly experience], Incline your ear to my understanding;

New American Standard Bible
My son, pay attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,

World English Bible
My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:

Geneva Bible (1587)
My sonne, hearken vnto my wisedome, & incline thine eare vnto my knowledge.

Legacy Standard Bible
My son, pay attention to my wisdom,Incline your ear to my discernment;

Berean Standard Bible
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

Contemporary English Version
My son, if you listen closely to my wisdom and good sense,

Complete Jewish Bible
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding;

Darby Translation
My son, attend unto my wisdom, incline thine ear to my understanding;

Easy-to-Read Version
Son, listen to this piece of wisdom from me. Pay attention to what I know to be true.

George Lamsa Translation
MY son, attend to my wisdom and incline your ear to my understanding,

Good News Translation
My child, pay attention and listen to my wisdom and insight.

Lexham English Bible
My child, be attentive to my wisdom, and to my understanding incline your ear;

Literal Translation
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; stretch your ear to my understanding;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
My sonne, geue hede vnto my wysdome, & bowe thine eare vnto my prudece:

American Standard Version
My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding:

Bible in Basic English
My son, give attention to my wisdom; let your ear be turned to my teaching:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding;

King James Version (1611)
My sonne, attend vnto my wisedome, and bowe thine eare to my vnderstanding.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
My sonne geue heede vnto my wisdome, and bowe thyne eare vnto my prudence:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
My son, attend to my wisdom, and apply thine ear to my words;

English Revised Version
My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Mi sone, perseyue thou my wisdom, and bowe doun thin eere to my prudence; that thou kepe thi thouytis,

Update Bible Version
My son, attend to my wisdom; Incline your ear to my understanding:

Webster's Bible Translation
My son, attend to my wisdom, [and] bow thy ear to my understanding:

New King James Version
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding,

New Living Translation
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel.

New Life Bible
My son, listen to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding.

New Revised Standard
My child, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
My son, to my wisdom, attend, and, to mine understanding, incline thou thine ear:

Douay-Rheims Bible
My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,

Revised Standard Version
My son, be attentive to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding;

Young's Literal Translation
My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,

THE MESSAGE
Dear friend, pay close attention to this, my wisdom; listen very closely to the way I see it. Then you'll acquire a taste for good sense; what I tell you will keep you out of trouble.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
My son, give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding;

Contextual Overview

¹ My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: ² That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. ³ For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: ⁴ But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. ⁵ Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. ⁶ Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. ⁷ Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. ⁸ Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: ⁹ Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: ¹⁰ Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

attend: Proverbs 2:1, Proverbs 4:1, Proverbs 4:20, Matthew 3:9, Mark 4:23, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:29, Revelation 3:6, Revelation 3:13, Revelation 3:22

bow: Proverbs 22:17, James 1:19

Reciprocal: Genesis 49:2 - hearken Job 33:33 - hearken Proverbs 1:8 - hear Proverbs 8:33 - Hear Proverbs 23:12 - General 1 Thessalonians 2:11 - as

Cross-References

Genesis 2:4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

Genesis 5:26
And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:

Genesis 5:27
And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

Genesis 6:9
These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Genesis 10:1
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

1 Chronicles 1:1
Adam, Sheth, Enosh,

Ecclesiastes 7:29
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Ecclesiastes 12:1
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

Matthew 1:1
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

1 Corinthians 11:7
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

My son, attend unto my wisdom,.... Not the wisdom of the world or of the flesh, worldly wisdom and carnal policy; but spiritual and evangelical wisdom; such as one that is greater than Solomon has in him, even Christ; "for in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge", Colossians 2:3; and which he teaches and communicates to others, even all proper instructions for conduct in life: the Gospel, and each of the doctrines of it, which are "the wisdom of God in a mystery", 1 Corinthians 2:7: these every child of God, and disciple of Christ, ought carefully and diligently to attend unto;

[and] bow thine ear to my understanding: listen attentively to those things which I have, and give an understanding of, even things divine and spiritual; the understanding of which is of the utmost moment and importance.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The formula of a new counsel, introducing another warning against the besetting sin of youth Proverbs 2:16.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER V

Farther exhortations to acquire wisdom, 1, 2.

The character of a loose woman, and the ruinous consequences

of attachment to such, 3-14.

Exhortations to chastity and moderation, 15-21.

The miserable end of the wicked, 22, 23.

NOTES ON CHAP. V

Verse Proverbs 5:1. Attend unto my wisdom — Take the following lessons from my own experience.