When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,
Parallel translations
- WEB For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.
- KJV For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
- NKJV When I was my father’s son, Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother,
- NASB When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,
- NLT For I, too, was once my father’s son, tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.
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 recalls being himself a beloved, only child, taught by his own father. The wisdom he gives is wisdom he first received.
Overview
The teacher grounds his authority in his own experience as a cherished son who was lovingly instructed. This shows wisdom as a living tradition, lovingly handed from parent to child across generations. It models the covenant faithfulness that passes the knowledge of God down the line of believers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Chr 22:5And David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent—famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore I must make preparations for it.” So David made lavish preparations before his death.
- 1 Chr 29:1Then King David said to the whole assembly, “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great because this palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.
- Rom 12:16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited.
- 2 Sam 12:24–25Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved the child
- Zech 12:10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
- 1 Kgs 1:13–17Go at once to King David and say, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to your maidservant, “Surely your son Solomon will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’
- Jer 10:23I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
- 1 Chr 3:5and these sons were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. These four were born to him by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel.
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 4:3 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.