Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge;
Parallel translations
- WEB Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise. Apply your heart to my teaching.
- KJV Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
- BSB Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise—apply your mind to my knowledge—
- NASB ¶Extend your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your mind to my knowledge;
- NLT Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my 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
The teacher calls the student to lean in attentively and take wisdom to heart, not merely hear it.
Overview
This verse opens the section often called "the Words of the Wise" (22:17-24:22), a distinct collection within Proverbs. Wisdom requires active reception: turning the ear and applying the heart, not passive listening. Jesus likewise pressed His hearers to "have ears to hear" and to receive His word into good soil (Matt. 13:9, 23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 90:12So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
- Prov 23:12Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
- Prov 3:1My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
- Eccl 7:25I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
- Prov 2:2–5So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
- Prov 1:3to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;
- Matt 17:5While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
- Prov 8:33–34Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it.
- Eccl 8:9All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
- Isa 55:3Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
- Prov 5:1–2My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
- Eccl 8:16When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes),
- Prov 4:4–8He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 22:17 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.