What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck.
Parallel translations
- WEB for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.
- KJV For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
- BSB For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around 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.
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 will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
- Dan 5:29Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
- Gen 41:42Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck,
- Prov 3:22so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck.
- Prov 6:20–21My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
- Ezek 16:11I decked you with ornaments. put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck.
- Isa 3:19the earrings, the bracelets, the veils,
- Song 1:10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.
- Dan 5:7The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever shall read this writing, and show me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
- 1 Pet 3:3–4Let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing;
- Dan 5:16But I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations, and dissolve doubts; now if you can read the writing, and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
- 1 Tim 2:9–10In the same way, that women also adorn themselves in decent clothing, with modesty and propriety; not just with braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive clothing;
- Song 4:9You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.