Be sure to know the state of your flocks, and pay close attention to your herds;
Parallel translations
- WEB Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds:
- KJV Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
- NKJV Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, And attend to your herds;
- NASB ¶Know well the condition of your flocks, And pay attention to your herds;
- NLT Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,
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
Pay careful attention to the condition of your livestock and resources. It commends diligent, attentive stewardship of what God has entrusted to us.
Overview
Opening a short discourse on diligent care, the proverb urges the herdsman to know the state of his flocks intimately, valuing watchfulness over neglect. It teaches responsible management of God-given resources. This pictures the faithful shepherd's care, fully realized in Christ the Good Shepherd, who knows His sheep by name (John 10:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Pet 5:2Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;
- John 21:15–17When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.”
- Gen 33:13But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die.
- 2 Chr 26:10Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.
- Prov 24:32I observed and took it to heart; I looked and received instruction:
- John 10:3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen for his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
- Ezek 34:31‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, My people, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
- Ezek 34:22–24I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.
- Deut 32:46he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.
- 1 Chr 27:29–31Shitrai the Sharonite was in charge of the herds grazing in Sharon. Shaphat son of Adlai was in charge of the herds in the valleys.
- Gen 31:38–40I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock.
- 1 Sam 17:28Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!”
- Exod 7:23Instead, Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and did not take any of this to heart.
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 27:23 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.