If you cease to hear instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.
Parallel translations
- WEB If you stop listening to instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.
- KJV Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.
- NKJV Cease listening to instruction, my son, And you will stray from the words of knowledge.
- NASB Stop listening, my son, to discipline, And you will stray from the words of knowledge.
- NLT If you stop listening to instruction, my child, you will turn your back on knowledge.
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
Stop listening to instruction and you will wander from knowledge. Abandoning teaching leads to going astray.
Overview
This proverb warns the 'son' that to cease hearing instruction is to stray from the words of knowledge. It may be read as a pointed irony: ceasing to learn inevitably ends in error. The verse stresses the danger of turning away from godly teaching and the necessity of continual attentiveness to truth, a perseverance in God's Word that keeps the believer on the path of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 1 Tim 6:3–5If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching,
- Mark 4:24He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you.
- 1 Jn 4:1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- Matt 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
- Prov 14:7Stay away from a foolish man; you will gain no knowledge from his speech.
- 2 Jn 1:10If anyone comes to you but does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home or even greet him.
- 2 Cor 11:13–15For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
- 1 Kgs 22:22–28And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’
- 1 Tim 4:7But reject irreverent, silly myths. Instead, train yourself for godliness.
- 2 Pet 2:1–2Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
- Matt 16:12Then they understood that He was not telling them to beware of the leaven used in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
- John 10:5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will flee from him because they do not recognize his voice.”
- Matt 16:6“Watch out!” Jesus told them. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
- Deut 13:1–4If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,
- Mark 7:6–14Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
- Eph 4:14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- Rev 2:2I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.
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 19:27 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.