Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
Parallel translations
- WEB Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
- BSB Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
- NKJV Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.
- NASB Apply your heart to discipline, And your ears to words of knowledge.
- NLT Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of 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
Devote your heart and ears wholeheartedly to instruction and knowledge.
Overview
This renews the call to teachable receptivity that opened the section (22:17). Wisdom requires deliberate engagement of both heart and hearing, not casual attention. Such hunger to learn reflects the disciple's posture toward Christ, who invites all to learn from Him (Matt. 11:29).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 5:1–2My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
- Prov 2:2–6So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
- Prov 23:19Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
- Jas 1:21–25Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
- Ezek 33:31And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
- Prov 22:17Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
- Matt 13:52Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
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 23:12 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.