My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion:
- BSB My son, do not lose sight of this: Preserve sound judgment and discernment.
- NKJV My son, let them not depart from your eyes— Keep sound wisdom and discretion;
- NASB My son, see that they do not escape from your sight; Comply with sound wisdom and discretion,
- NLT My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them,
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 father urges his son to keep sound wisdom and discretion always in view. Wisdom must be guarded and held close, not let slip.
Overview
After praising wisdom's cosmic dignity, the teacher returns to personal exhortation: keep sound judgment and discretion ever before you. The repeated call to vigilance shows that wisdom, once received, must be retained by attention and discipline. This guarding of the heart and mind anticipates the New Testament's call to hold fast the word (Heb 2:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Josh 1:8This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
- Deut 6:6–9And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
- Deut 32:46–47And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
- Prov 4:21Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
- Heb 2:1–3Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
- Deut 4:9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
- 1 Jn 2:27But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
- John 8:31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
- 1 Jn 2:24Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
- Prov 3:1–3My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
- John 15:6–7If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
- Prov 2:7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
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 3:21 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.