For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Parallel translations
- WEB for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.
- BSB For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.
- ESV for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.
- NKJV For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.
- NASB For they are a graceful wreath for your head And necklaces for your neck.
- NLT What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
Parental instruction is like a beautiful garland and necklace adorning the one who keeps it. It matters because obedience to wisdom brings genuine honor and grace.
Overview
Wisdom is pictured as adornment that dignifies and beautifies the life of the one who receives it. Unlike fleeting ornaments, godly instruction confers lasting honor before God and others. This grace, freely given through teaching, points to the greater adornment of righteousness found in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 4:9She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
- Dan 5:29Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
- Gen 41:42And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
- Prov 3:22So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
- Prov 6:20–21My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
- Ezek 16:11I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
- Isa 3:19The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
- Song 1:10Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.
- Dan 5:7The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
- 1 Pet 3:3–4Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
- Dan 5:16And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.
- 1 Tim 2:9–10In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
- Song 4:9Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
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 1:9 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.