Limitless Word
My son, keep my words And treasure my commandments within you.
Proverbs 7:1 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.
  • KJV My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
  • BSB My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.
  • NKJV My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you.
  • NLT Follow my advice, my son; always treasure my commands.

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 keep his father's words and store up his commandments. Treasure wisdom's teaching within you.

Overview

A new appeal opens the chapter, calling the son to guard and internalize the father's instruction. Storing up commandments pictures wisdom kept safe within the heart, ready to guide. This sets the stage for an extended, vivid warning against the seductress that follows.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Prov 1:8My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
  • Rev 1:3Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
  • Luke 11:28But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”
  • John 14:23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
  • Prov 2:1–7My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;
  • Rev 22:9He said to me, “See you don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
  • Job 22:22Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
  • John 15:20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
  • Prov 3:1My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
  • Deut 11:28and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you today, to go after other gods, which you have not known.
  • Luke 8:15That in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produces fruit with patience.
  • Prov 10:14Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near ruin.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 7:1YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 7:1 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.