Proverbs 4:6

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Don’t abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you;love her, and she will guard you.

Hebrew Names Version
Don't forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.

King James Version
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

English Standard Version
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.

New Century Version
Hold on to wisdom, and it will take care of you. Love it, and it will keep you safe.

New English Translation
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will guard you.

Amplified Bible
"Do not turn away from her (Wisdom) and she will guard and protect you; Love her, and she will watch over you.

New American Standard Bible
"Do not abandon her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.

World English Bible
Don't forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Forsake her not, and shee shall keepe thee: loue her and shee shall preserue thee.

Legacy Standard Bible
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;Love her, and she will guard you.

Berean Standard Bible
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.

Contemporary English Version
If you love Wisdom and don't reject her, she will watch over you.

Complete Jewish Bible
Don't abandon [wisdom]; then she will preserve you; love her, and she will protect you.

Darby Translation
Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee; love her, and she shall preserve thee.

Easy-to-Read Version
Don't turn away from wisdom, and she will protect you. Love her, and she will keep you safe.

George Lamsa Translation
Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will save you.

Good News Translation
Do not abandon wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will keep you safe.

Lexham English Bible
Do not forsake her—then she will guard you; love her and she will keep you.

Literal Translation
Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Forsake her not, and she shal preserue the: loue her, and she shal kepe the.

American Standard Version
Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; Love her, and she will keep thee.

Bible in Basic English
Do not give her up, and she will keep you; give her your love, and she will make you safe.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; love her, and she will keep thee.

King James Version (1611)
Forsake her not, and she shall preserue thee: loue her, and she shall keepe thee.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Forsake her not, and she shall preserue thee, loue her, and she shall kepe thee.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And forsake it not, and it shall cleave to thee: love it, and it shall keep thee.

English Revised Version
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee; love her, and she shall keep thee.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsake thou not it, and it schal kepe thee; loue thou it, and it schal kepe thee.

Update Bible Version
Don't forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.

Webster's Bible Translation
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

New King James Version
Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.

New Living Translation
Don't turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you.

New Life Bible
Do not leave her alone, and she will keep you safe. Love her, and she will watch over you.

New Revised Standard
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Do not forsake her, and she will guard thee, - love her and she will keep thee.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee.

Revised Standard Version
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.

Young's Literal Translation
Forsake her not, and she doth preserve thee, Love her, and she doth keep thee.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.

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

love: Proverbs 4:21, Proverbs 4:22, Proverbs 2:10-12, Ephesians 3:17, 2 Thessalonians 2:10

Reciprocal: Proverbs 2:11 - General Proverbs 3:16 - and Proverbs 6:21 - General Proverbs 7:4 - Say Proverbs 11:9 - through Proverbs 19:8 - he that keepeth Philippians 4:7 - shall

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
Adam slept with Eve his wife. She conceived and had Cain. She said, "I've gotten a man, with God 's help!"

Genesis 4:3
Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.

Genesis 4:8
Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him.

Genesis 4:13
Cain said to God , "My punishment is too much. I can't take it! You've thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me."

Isaiah 1:18
"Come. Sit down. Let's argue this out." This is God 's Message: "If your sins are blood-red, they'll be snow-white. If they're red like crimson, they'll be like wool. If you'll willingly obey, you'll feast like kings. But if you're willful and stubborn, you'll die like dogs." That's right. God says so.

Jeremiah 2:31
"What a generation you turned out to be! Didn't I tell you? Didn't I warn you? Have I let you down, Israel? Am I nothing but a dead-end street? Why do my people say, ‘Good riddance! From now on we're on our own'? Young women don't forget their jewelry, do they? Brides don't show up without their veils, do they? But my people forget me. Day after day after day they never give me a thought.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee,.... That is, Wisdom, or Christ. Men may be said to forsake Christ when they forsake the assembly of his church and people, which are his other self; when they forsake his ministers, his ambassadors, and representatives; when they forsake his word and ordinances; when they drop the doctrines of the Gospel, or depart from them; when they quit the profession they have formerly made. Nominal believers and formal professors may forsake him finally and totally; true believers only partially and for a time, through the weakness of the flesh, the temptations of Satan, the snares of the world, and the prevalence of corruption; and therefore such an exhortation is necessary, and ought to be regarded. To forsake Christ is a very great evil; it is against a man's own interest, and is of dangerous consequence, and therefore to be guarded against; to abide by him, his truths and ordinances, is very commendable; such shall be "preserved" by him safe to his kingdom and glory;

love her, and she shall keep thee; Christ is to be loved for the excellencies and perfections of his nature; for the loveliness of his person; for the love he has showed to his people; for what he in love has done and suffered for them, and is now doing; for the fulness of his grace and salvation, and the suitableness of them to them; for the communion he indulges them in with himself; for the relations of an head, husband, father, brother, and friend, he stands in to them: and also under the character of Wisdom, he being the only wise God and their Saviour, the Wisdom of God and Wisdom to them; and whose Gospel is the Wisdom of God in a mystery. He is to be loved, all of him and that belong unto him, and above all creatures and things, ardently, sincerely, and constantly; and such lovers of him shall be "kept" by him from the evil of the world; from the power and dominion of sin, and condemnation by it; from being destroyed by Satan, and his temptations; and from a final and total falling away, so as not to perish everlastingly; they are kept in his own hands, in his Father's love and his own, in the everlasting covenant; and in a state of grace, of sanctification, justification, and adoption. Not that loving Christ, and cleaving to him, are the causes of this preservation; but his love, grace, and power; yet these are descriptive of the persons kept and preserved: and the preservation and keeping of them is used as an argument to love him, and cleave 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 4:6. Forsake her not — Wisdom personified is here represented as a guardian and companion, who, if not forsaken, will continue faithful; if loved, will continue a protector.