So listen to me, my sons, and pay attention to my words.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.
- KJV Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
- BSB Now, my sons, listen to me, and attend to the words of my mouth.
- NKJV Now therefore, listen to me, my children; Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
- NASB ¶Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
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 father urges his sons to listen carefully to his warning. Heed wisdom's counsel attentively.
Overview
After the cautionary tale, the father calls his hearers to pay close attention to his words. The plural address widens the appeal to all who would learn wisdom. It marks the shift from narrative to direct, urgent exhortation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Prov 5:7Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
- Prov 4:1Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;
- 1 Jn 2:1My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
- Prov 8:32–33“Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways.
- Gal 4:19My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you —
- 1 Cor 4:14–15I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 7:24 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.