For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
Parallel translations
- WEB for I give you sound learning. Don’t forsake my law.
- BSB For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive.
- NKJV For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law.
- NASB For I give you good teaching; Do not abandon my instruction.
- NLT for I am giving you good guidance. Don’t turn away from my instructions.
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 gives sound teaching and pleads that it not be forsaken. His instruction is trustworthy and life-giving.
Overview
The teacher commends his own teaching as 'good doctrine' (sound learning) and urges that his 'torah' (instruction) not be abandoned. The appeal underscores that wisdom is not optional advice but a reliable guide to be retained. As all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable (2 Tim 3:16), such teaching is to be held fast.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Tim 4:6If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
- Deut 32:2My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
- Titus 1:9Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
- Job 33:3My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly.
- Ps 89:30–32If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
- Prov 8:6–9Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
- John 7:16–17Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
- 2 Chr 7:19But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
- 1 Chr 28:9And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
- Job 11:4For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.
- Ps 49:1–3Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
- Prov 22:20–21Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
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 4:2 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.