Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
Parallel translations
- WEB Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;
- KJV Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
- NKJV Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding;
- NASB Listen, my sons, to the instruction of a father, And pay attention so that you may gain understanding,
- NLT My children, listen when your father corrects you. Pay attention and learn good judgment,
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
A father calls his children to hear his instruction and gain understanding. Wisdom is handed down and must be actively received.
Overview
Chapter 4 opens a new appeal in which the teacher addresses his 'sons' and urges attentive listening. Wisdom is presented as a heritage passed from one generation to the next, requiring deliberate attention. This honors the biblical pattern of godly instruction within families (Deut 6:6-7; Eph 6:4).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Heb 2:1We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
- Ps 34:11Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
- Prov 1:8Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
- Prov 2:1–5My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
- 1 Th 2:11–12For you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children—
- Prov 5:1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
- Prov 7:4Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman,
- Prov 19:20Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.
- Prov 22:17Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise—apply your mind to my knowledge—
- Prov 6:20–23My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
- Prov 8:32–36Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 4:1 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.