Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
Parallel translations
- WEB Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end.
- BSB Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.
- NKJV Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days.
- NASB Listen to advice and accept discipline, So that you may be wise the rest of your days.
- NLT Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life.
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
Heed counsel and instruction so you may be wise in the end. A lifetime of teachability leads to lasting wisdom.
Overview
This proverb exhorts the hearer to listen to advice and accept discipline in order to grow wise 'in his latter end,' that is, for the rest of his life. It frames wisdom as the fruit of humble, ongoing receptivity to correction. Such teachability marks the disciple of Christ, who never outgrows the need to learn from God's Word and the wise counsel of others.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 12:15The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
- Prov 8:34–35Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
- Prov 2:1–9My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
- Prov 1:8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
- Prov 4:1Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
- Luke 16:19–23There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
- Num 23:10Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
- Ps 90:14O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
- Ps 37:37Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
- Ps 90:12So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
- Deut 8:16Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
- Deut 32:29O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 19:20 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.