My son, see that they do not escape from your sight; Comply with sound wisdom and discretion,
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion:
- KJV My son, let not them depart from thine 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;
- 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 from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.
- Deut 6:6–9These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart;
- Deut 32:46–47He said to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you today, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
- Prov 4:21Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart.
- Heb 2:1–3Therefore we ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away.
- Deut 4:9Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children;
- 1 Jn 2:27As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.
- John 8:31Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.
- 1 Jn 2:24Therefore, as for you, let that remain in you which you heard from the beginning. If that which you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son, and in the Father.
- Prov 3:1–3My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
- John 15:6–7If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
- Prov 2:7He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;
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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
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