My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
- BSB My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
- NKJV My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding,
- NASB My son, pay attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,
- NLT My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel.
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 son is called to attend to his father's wisdom and understanding. Careful listening prepares one to resist temptation.
Overview
Chapter 5 opens a sustained warning against sexual immorality, beginning with the familiar appeal to heed wisdom. The placement is deliberate: only one grounded in wisdom will withstand the seductions to come. Such attentiveness to godly instruction is the first defense against sin's allurements.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 22:17Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
- Rev 2:11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
- Prov 4:20My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
- Prov 2:1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
- Rev 3:13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
- Rev 2:17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
- Mark 4:23If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
- Jas 1:19Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
- Prov 4:1Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
- Rev 2:29He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
- Rev 2:7He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
- Rev 3:6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
- Matt 3:9And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
- Rev 3:22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
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 5:1 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.