Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.
Parallel Translations
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Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.
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Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
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Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Proverbs 4:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe.
- Proverbs 3:2 for they will add to you length of days, years of life, and peace.
- Deuteronomy 6:2 that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.
- Jeremiah 9:20 Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women. Let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing. Everyone teach her neighbor a lamentation.
- Proverbs 3:16 Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor.
- Proverbs 8:10 Receive my instruction rather than silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.
- John 3:32-33 What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.
- 1 Timothy 1:15 The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
- Job 22:22 Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
- Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you,
- Proverbs 19:20 Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end.
- Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 4:10 Hear, O my son, and receive my…
Pro 4:10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
Ver. 10. Hear, O my son, and receive.] How slippery an age youth is, and how easily it slips into sinful courses and companies the wise man well knew; and therefore ceaseth not to inculcate and repeat the same thing over and over. Liquidae sunt puerorum memoriae.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings,.... Some…
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings,.... Some think David is still speaking to his son Solomon, or Solomon continues relating what his father said to him; though I rather think these are Solomon's words to his son, to everyone of his children that came to him for instruction, or he took upon him to teach; whom he advises to listen to what he had further to say, and to embrace, and not reject, his doctrines;
and the years of thy life shall be many; see Pro 3:1; long life here, and length of days for ever and ever, or eternal life hereafter; which must be a very forcible argument to engage attention to his sayings.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. The years of thy life shall be…
Verse 10. The years of thy life shall be many.] Vice and intemperance impair the health and shorten the days of the wicked; while true religion, sobriety, and temperance, prolong them. The principal part of our diseases springs from "indolence, intemperance, and disorderly passions." Religion excites to industry, promotes sober habits, and destroys evil passions, and harmonizes the soul; and thus, by preventing many diseases, necessarily prolongs life.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 4:10-13. Hear, O my son, and receive my…
Pro 4:10-13. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings — Diligently attend to and imbibe my instructions, as the earth drinks in the rain that drops upon it. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom — Either, 1st, The way which procureth wisdom; or, 2d, Which wisdom directs thee to walk in. Thy steps shall not be straitened — Thou shalt manage thine affairs with great facility, safety, and success. It is a metaphor taken from those who walk in a strait and uneven path, where they are apt to stumble and fall. Thou shalt not stumble — No miscarry. Take fast hold of instruction — As being resolved to keep thy hold, and never to let it go. Keep her, for she is thy life — The conductor, preserver, and comforter of thy life.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain It is instructive to see a king (whether David…
It is instructive to see a king (whether David or Solomon) not forgetting in the midst of his royal cares his domestic responsibilities. We are told — ’Youth will have its swing.’ ’So’ — adds an old Commentator solemnly — ’it may — to hell.’†1 For where else can a wayward will lead? Let us see the need of guidance of every step, both to take and to avoid. The ways of wisdom assure a happy life in the favor of God. (1Ti 4:8, with Pro 3:1-2 . Psa 34:12-14 . 1Pe 3:10-12 .) And what rest to the parent’s conscience on the deathbed will be the recollection of children, not brought up for the world, but taught in these ways! Yet this cannot be, if the rod, when needed, has been spared; if the will has been indulged; the love of the world cherished. This will be — if godly discipline has been exercised; if the Bible has been laid down as the rule of life; if habits of prayer, love to the service of God, fellowship with his people, have been encouraged. The path, though rough and sometimes lonely, is a right path, and a path of liberty. (Psa 119:32, Psa 119:45 .) The single eye will preserve a steady walk. (Pro 10:9 . Isa 48:17-18 . Mat 6:22 .) Thou shalt run, and shalt not stumble. (Pro 3:21-26 . Hos 14:9 .)
And yet the animated exhortation to take fast hold, shows the struggle necessary to retain our principles. Feeble, indeed, is our hold, when connected merely with the excitement of novelty (Mat 13:20-21 ), temporary convictions (Psa 78:34-36 ; Psa 106:12-13 ), the restraint of education (2Ch 12:1 ; 2Ch 24:2, 2Ch 24:15-18 ), unestablished knowledge (Gal 3:1-4 ), or the indulgence of sin. (Mar 6:18-26 .) Truths received only in the understanding, not becoming the daily nourishment of the soul, never fix on the heart. The fast hold of instruction is by a personal living faith; including an intense interest, and persevering pursuit; "continuing in the things which we have heard and been assured of;" cleaving with purpose of heart unto the Lord. (2Ti 3:14 . Act 11:23 ; Act 2:42 .) As Jacob detained the angel (Gen 32:26-29 ); as the spouse held fast hold of her Beloved (Song of Son 3:4 ); as the disciples "constrained the Savior to abide with them" (Luk 24:28-29 ) — So — young Christian — let her not go, Keep her, as the man "for joy" guarded his precious treasure. (Mat 13:44 .) So let thy heavenly treasure stand above every earthly blessing. Thus will it be thy life. (Pro 3:18 . Ecc 7:12 .) And while others "turn back, and walk no more" in the way, thine heart will turn to its only spring of happiness — "Lord, to whom shall I go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." (Joh 6:67-69 .)
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Footnotes
†1 Taylor.
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Compare Pro 2:1; Pro 3:2).
(Compare Pro 2:1; Pro 3:2).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Shall be many — Better, shall increase to…
10. Shall be many — Better, shall increase to thee the years of life. Miller says, “They [the instructions of wisdom] shall grow greater to thee through years of life.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Many commentators, e.g. Jerome, Bede, Ewald, Bertheau, and Hitzig,…
Many commentators, e.g. Jerome, Bede, Ewald, Bertheau, and Hitzig, suppose that the father"s instruction closes in the preceding verse, but it seems more appropriate to consider the father as here passing to another branch of his instruction, which is to point out the way of wisdom, and so to prepare for his warnings which follow from ver. 14 to ver. 19. Receive; kakh, from lakah, "to receive". (on the force of this verb, see Pro_1:3) He who shows a delighter willingness in admitting the words of Wisdom for such a character the father claims for his teaching, as we see from, the next verse shall receive a blessing. It is a sign of grace when any even show themselves open to listen to instruction; but it is a greater sign when this instruction is received with readiness and pleasure (Muffet). The years of thy life (sh"noth khayyim); literally, years of thy lives. The plural "lives" expresses the idea of life in the abstract. There is no absolute statement of a future life here, though by the Christian this idea may be indulged in on the ground of a fuller revelation. The promise is one that not only implies the prolongation of life, but also a life of prosperity and enjoyment. Shall be many; literally, shall be multiplied.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I have taught thee in the way of wisdom;…
Pro_4:10-11
I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths
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Precept and example
Teaching and leading are closely allied, but are not identical.
It is possible and common to have the first in large measure where the second is wanting. It is easier to tell another the right way than to walk in it yourself. Only a godly man can bring up his child for God. Many will do evil; few dare to teach it to their own offspring. This is the unwilling homage which the evil are constrained to pay to goodness. Great is the effect when parents consistently and steadfastly go before their children, giving them a daily example of their daily precepts. An example of some kind parents must exhibit in their families. If it be not such as to help, it will certainly hinder the education of the young. God in the providential laws permits no neutrality in the family. There you must either be for or against Him. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The true parental aim
What is the prime object we should seek for our children? It is to have them fixed and established in ways of wisdom and right paths. What are the means of securing this object? It is teaching them and leading them. This father had trained his son in character for wisdom and righteousness. Some fathers are only concerned for the physical wants of their households. Others are most concerned for the intellectual culture of their children. Yet others look chiefly after traits of character. The true aim of parents should be the culture of a God-fearing, God-obeying, God-loving character. In the world there is a woeful lack of character. Then--
I. Teach children right views of life.
2. Teach children right habits. You lead them into right paths--
(1) By your example.
(2) By prayer.
(3) By keeping them under the influence of the sanctuary. (W. F.V. Bartlett, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Pro 4:10 - Pro 4:19.
Proverbs
THE TWO PATHS
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Pro 4:10 - Pro 4:19.
This passage includes much more than temperance or any other single virtue. It is a perfectly general exhortation to that practical wisdom which walks in the path of righteousness. The principles laid down here are true in regard to drunkenness and abstinence, but they are intended to receive a wider application, and to that wider application we must first look. The theme is the old, familiar one of the two paths, and the aim is to recommend the better way by setting forth the contrasted effects of walking in it and in the other.
The general call to listen in Pro 4:10 is characteristically enforced by the Old Testament assurance that obedience prolongs life. That is a New Testament truth as well; for there is nothing more certain than that a life in conformity with God’s will, which is the same thing as a life in conformity with physical laws, tends to longevity. The experience of any doctor will show that. Here in England we have statistics which prove that total abstainers are a long-lived people, and some insurance offices construct their tables accordingly.
After that general call to listen comes, in Pro 4:11, the description of the path in which long life is to be found. It is ‘the way of Wisdom’-that is, that which Wisdom prescribes, and in which therefore it is wise to walk. It is always foolish to do wrong. The rough title of an old play is The Devil is an Ass, and if that is not true about him, it is absolutely true about those who listen to his lies. Sin is the stupidest thing in the universe, for it ignores the plainest facts, and never gets what it flings away so much to secure.
Another aspect of the path is presented in the designation ‘paths of uprightness,’ which seems to be equivalent to those which belong to, or perhaps which consist of, uprightness. The idea of straightness or evenness is the primary meaning of the word, and is, of course, appropriate to the image of a path. In the moral view, it suggests how much more simple and easy a course of rectitude is than one of sin. The one goes straight and unswerving to its end; the other is crooked, devious, intricate, and wanders from the true goal. A crooked road is a long road, and an up-and-down road is a tiring road. Wisdom’s way is straight, level, and steadily approaches its aim.
In Pro 4:13 the image of the path is dropped for the moment, and the picture of the way of uprightness and its travellers is translated into the plain exhortation to keep fast hold of ‘instruction,’ which is substantially equivalent to the queenly Wisdom of these early chapters of Proverbs. The earnestness of the repeated exhortations implies the strength of the forces that tend to sweep us, especially those of us who are young, from our grasp of that Wisdom. Hands become slack, and many a good gift drops from nerveless fingers; thieves abound who will filch away ‘instruction,’ if we do not resolutely hold tight by it. Who would walk through the slums of a city holding jewels with a careless grasp, and never looking at them? How many would he have left if he did? We do not need to do anything to lose instruction. If we will only do nothing to keep it, the world and our own hearts will make sure that we lose it. And if we lose it, we lose ourselves; for ‘she is thy life,’ and the mere bodily life, that is lived without her, is not worth calling the life of a man.
Pro 4:14 - Pro 4:17 give the picture of the other path, in terrible contrast with the preceding. It is noteworthy that, while in the former the designation was the ‘path of uprightness’ or of ‘wisdom,’ and the description therefore was mainly of the characteristics of the path, here the designation is ‘the path of the wicked,’ and the description is mainly of the travellers on it. Righteousness was dealt with, as it were, in the abstract; but wickedness is too awful and dark to be painted thus, and is only set forth in the concrete, as seen in its doers. Now, it is significant that the first exhortation here is of a negative character. In contrast with the reiterated exhortations to keep wisdom, here are reiterated counsels to steer clear of evil. It is all about us, and we have to make a strong effort to keep it at arm’s-length. ‘Whom resist’ is imperative. True, negative virtue is incomplete, but there will be no positive virtue without it. We must be accustomed to say ‘No,’ or we shall come to little good. An outer belt of firs is sometimes planted round a centre of more tender and valuable wood to shelter the young trees; so we have to make a fence of abstinences round our plantation of positive virtues. The decalogue is mostly prohibitions. ‘So did not I, because of the fear of God’ must be our motto. In this light, entire abstinence from intoxicants is seen to be part of the ‘way of Wisdom.’ It is one, and, in the present state of England and America, perhaps the most important, of the ways by which we can ‘turn from’ the path of the wicked and ‘pass on.’
The picture of the wicked in Pro 4:16 - Pro 4:17 is that of very grossly criminal sinners. They are only content when they have done harm, and delight in making others as bad as themselves. But, diabolical as such a disposition is, one sees it only too often in full operation. How many a drunkard or impure man finds a fiendish pleasure in getting hold of some innocent lad, and ‘putting him up to a thing or two,’ which means teaching him the vices from which the teacher has ceased to get much pleasure, and which he has to spice with the condiment of seeing an unaccustomed sinner’s eagerness! Such people infest our streets, and there is only one way for a young man to be safe from them,-’avoid, pass not by, turn from, and pass on.’ The reference to ‘bread’ and ‘wine’ in Pro 4:17 seems simply to mean that the wicked men’s living is won by their ‘wickedness,’ which procures bread, and by their ‘violence,’ which brings them wine. It is the way by which these are obtained that is culpable. We may contrast this foul source of a degraded living with Pro 4:13, where ‘instruction’ is set forth as ‘the life’ of the upright.
Pro 4:18 - Pro 4:19 bring more closely together the two paths, and set them in final, forcible contrast. The phrase ‘the perfect day’ might be rendered, vividly though clumsily, ‘the steady of the day’-that is, noon, when the sun seems to stand still in the meridian. So the image compares the path of the just to the growing brightness of morning dawn, becoming more and more fervid and lustrous, till the climax of an Eastern midday. No more sublime figure of the continuous progress in goodness, brightness, and joy, which is the best reward of walking in the paths of uprightness, can be imagined; and it is as true as it is sublime. Blessed they who in the morning of their days begin to walk in the way of wisdom; for, in most cases, years will strengthen their uprightness, and to that progress there will be no termination, nor will the midday sun have to decline westward to diminishing splendour or dismal setting, but that noontide glory will be enhanced, and made eternal in a new heaven. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. That blaze of growing glory, possible for us all, makes the tragic gloom to which evil men condemn themselves the thicker and more doleful, as some dungeon in an Eastern prison seems pitch dark to one coming in from the blaze outside. ‘How great is that darkness!’ It is the darkness of sin, of ignorance, of sorrow, and what adds deeper gloom to it is that every soul that sits in that shadow of death might have been shining, a sun, in the spacious heaven of God’s love.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 pay attention to my words
pay attention to my words
"listen carefully to what I teach you"
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you will have many years in your life
"you will live many years"
I direct you in the way of wisdom; I lead you down straight paths
The writer speaks of teaching his son to live wisely as if he were leading his son along the paths where one may find wisdom. AT: "I am teaching you how to live wisely; I am explaining the right way to live" (See: Metaphor)
When you walk, no one will stand in your way and if you run, you will not stumble
These two lines share similar meanings. The writer speaks of the decisions and actions that a person makes as if that person were walking or running along a path and of the person being successful as if the path were free of obstacles that might make the person stumble. AT: "When you plan something, you will succeed in doing it" (See: Metaphor and Parallelism)
translationWords
word
life
wise
walk
run
stumble
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:10-19 The father again lays two paths before his…
4:10-19 The father again lays two paths before his children, encouraging them to avoid evil with its horrible consequences and to embrace good with its promise of blessing.
4:10 Not every wise person lives longer than every evil person, but obedience and wise living make a long, good life much more likely (see also 5:1-14, 21-23; 23:29-35; cp. Eccl 2:12-17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.