that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
Parallel translations
- KJV That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
- BSB that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
- NKJV That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge.
- NASB So that you may maintain discretion And your lips may comply with knowledge.
- NLT Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned.
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
Attending to wisdom guards discretion and keeps knowledge on your lips. Wisdom enables both prudent thought and self-controlled speech.
Overview
The purpose of heeding wisdom (v. 1) is to maintain discretion and preserve knowledge in one's words. Discretion, the ability to judge and act prudently, is precisely what guards against the seductions described next. This sober self-mastery reflects the Spirit's fruit of self-control in the believer's life (Gal 5:22-23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 15:7The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so with the heart of fools.
- Prov 16:23The heart of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.
- Mal 2:6–7The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.
- Song 4:11Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
- Ps 119:13With my lips, I have declared all the ordinances of your mouth.
- Ps 71:15My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure.
- Prov 10:21The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding.
- Ps 45:2You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever.
- Prov 15:2The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools gush out folly.
- Prov 20:15There is gold and abundance of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 5:2 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.