¶My son, comply with the commandment of your father, And do not ignore the teaching of your mother;
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
- KJV My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
- BSB My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
- NKJV My son, keep your father’s command, And do not forsake the law of your mother.
- NLT My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
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 urged to hold fast to his father's command and mother's teaching. Honor parental instruction in wisdom.
Overview
Returning to direct exhortation, the father appeals for the son to keep both parents' godly instruction. This reflects the covenant family's role in passing down wisdom and the fear of the Lord. It echoes the fifth commandment and prepares for the extended warning against adultery that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Eph 6:1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
- Deut 27:16‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- Prov 7:1–4My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.
- Prov 23:22Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
- Prov 1:8–9My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
- Prov 30:11There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn’t bless their mother.
- Deut 21:18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them;
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 6:20 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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