Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.
Parallel translations
- KJV Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
- BSB Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.
- NKJV Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.
- NASB “Do not abandon her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.
- NLT Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you.
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
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will guard you. A relationship of devotion to wisdom brings her protection.
Overview
Wisdom is personified as a guardian who keeps those who love and cling to her. The language of love shows that wisdom is pursued not merely with the mind but with the affections. To love wisdom is, ultimately, to love the God who is wise and to cleave to Christ in whom wisdom is found.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- 2 Th 2:10and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
- Prov 4:21–22Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart.
- Eph 3:17that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
- Prov 2:10–12For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:6 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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