¶Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, And do not ignore your mother’s teaching;
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
- KJV My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
- BSB Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
- NKJV My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;
- NLT My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A child should heed both father's instruction and mother's teaching. It matters because godly wisdom is first received through honored parental guidance.
Overview
The fatherly appeal 'my son' frames much of chapters 1-9. Both parents are sources of moral formation, reflecting the family as God's ordained school of wisdom (Deut. 6:6-7). Honoring such teaching aligns with the fifth commandment and prepares the heart to honor our heavenly Father.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 6:20My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
- Prov 30:17“The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.
- Prov 5:1–2My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
- Prov 2:1My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;
- Prov 31:1The words of king Lemuel; the revelation which his mother taught him.
- Prov 4:1–4Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;
- 2 Tim 1:5having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you; which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also.
- Lev 19:3“‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
- Prov 1:10My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.
- Deut 21:18–21If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them;
- Prov 1:15My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path,
- Prov 7:1My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.
- Prov 3:1My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
- 1 Sam 2:25If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.
- Matt 9:2Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.”
- Matt 9:22But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, “Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 1:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.