Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Parallel translations
- WEB Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
- BSB Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- NKJV Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
- NASB Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
- NLT Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
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
Trust Yahweh wholeheartedly and do not rely on your own understanding. It matters because faith means depending on God rather than our limited wisdom.
Overview
This beloved verse calls for total trust in the Lord over self-reliance. Human understanding is finite and fallen; God's wisdom is perfect. Such wholehearted trust is the heart of saving faith, looking away from self to God and His provision in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ps 37:5Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
- Jer 17:7–8Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
- Prov 28:26He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
- Ps 37:3Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
- Ps 62:8Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
- Isa 26:3–4Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
- Isa 12:2Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
- Ps 37:7Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
- Prov 3:7Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
- Jer 10:23O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
- 1 Cor 3:18–20Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
- Ps 146:3–5Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
- Rom 12:16Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
- Ps 125:1They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.
- Jer 9:23Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
- Ps 115:9–11O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
- Prov 22:19That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
- Job 13:15Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
- Prov 23:4Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
- 1 Cor 8:1–2Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
- Eph 1:12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
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 3:5 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.