“Listen to instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it.
- KJV Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
- BSB Listen to instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.
- NKJV Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it.
- NLT Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it.
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
We are urged to hear instruction, become wise, and not refuse it. Wisdom is gained by humbly receiving correction.
Overview
Wisdom presses her appeal with an urgent command not to neglect or reject her teaching. The exhortation assumes that instruction is freely available but must be willingly received. This reflects the consistent biblical call to a teachable heart, the humility that James commends in receiving the implanted word (James 1:21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 4:1Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;
- Ps 81:11–12But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.
- Prov 5:1My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
- Prov 1:8My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
- Prov 1:2–3to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;
- Rom 10:16–17But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
- Heb 12:25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
- Prov 1:21She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words:
- Isa 55:1–3“Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
- Acts 7:35–37“This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ — God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
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 8:33 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.