Proverbs 4:5

THE MESSAGE

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.

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.

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

¹ Listen, friends, to some fatherly advice; sit up and take notice so you'll know how to live. I'm giving you good counsel; don't let it go in one ear and out the other. ³When 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." ¹⁰Dear friend, take my advice; it will add years to your life. I'm writing out clear directions to Wisdom Way, I'm drawing a map to Righteous Road. I don't want you ending up in blind alleys, or wasting time making wrong turns. Hold tight to good advice; don't relax your grip. Guard it well—your life is at stake! Don't take Wicked Bypass; don't so much as set foot on that road. Stay clear of it; give it a wide berth. Make a detour and be on your way.

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
God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth."

Numbers 16:15
Moses' temper blazed white-hot. He said to God , "Don't accept their Grain-Offering. I haven't taken so much as a single donkey from them; I haven't hurt a single hair of their heads."

Hebrews 11:4
By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That's what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.

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.