Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

Proverbs 4:10

Give ear, O my son, and let your heart be open to my sayings; and long life will be yours.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Children;   Wisdom;   Young Men;   Thompson Chain Reference - Call, Divine;   God's;   Wisdom;   Wisdom-Folly;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Life, Natural;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Teacher;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Life;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for February 4;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Listen, my son. Accept my words,and you will live many years.
Hebrew Names Version
Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.
King James Version
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
English Standard Version
Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.
New Century Version
My child, listen and accept what I say. Then you will have a long life.
New English Translation
Listen, my child, and accept my words, so that the years of your life will be many.
Amplified Bible
Hear, my son, and accept my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.
New American Standard Bible
Listen, my son, and accept my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.
World English Bible
Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Heare, my sonne, & receiue my wordes, and the yeeres of thy life shalbe many.
Legacy Standard Bible
Hear, my son, and receive my sayingsAnd the years of your life will be many.
Berean Standard Bible
Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many.
Contemporary English Version
My child, if you listen and obey my teachings, you will live a long time.
Complete Jewish Bible
Listen, my son, receive what I say, and the years of your life will be many.
Darby Translation
Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be multiplied.
Easy-to-Read Version
Son, listen to me. Do what I say, and you will live a long time.
George Lamsa Translation
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of your life shall be many.
Good News Translation
Listen to me, my child. Take seriously what I am telling you, and you will live a long life.
Lexham English Bible
Listen, my child, take my sayings, and the years of your life shall be great.
Literal Translation
Oh my son, hear and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Heare my sonne, and receaue my wordes, that the yeares of thy life maye be many.
American Standard Version
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; And the years of thy life shall be many.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
King James Version (1611)
Heare, O my sonne, and receiue my sayings: and the yeeres of thy life shalbe many.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Heare my sonne, and receaue my wordes, and the yeres of thy life shalbe many.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Hear, my son, and receive my words; and the years of thy life shall be increased, that the resources of thy life may be many.
English Revised Version
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Mi sone, here thou, and take my wordis; that the yeris of lijf be multiplied to thee.
Update Bible Version
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; And the years of your life shall be many.
Webster's Bible Translation
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
New King James Version
Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.
New Living Translation
My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.
New Life Bible
Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many.
New Revised Standard
Hear, my child, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and they will multiply to thee the years of life.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee.
Revised Standard Version
Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.
Young's Literal Translation
Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And years of life [are] multiplied to thee.
THE MESSAGE
Dear friend, take my advice; it will add years to your life. I'm writing out clear directions to Wisdom Way, I'm drawing a map to Righteous Road. I don't want you ending up in blind alleys, or wasting time making wrong turns. Hold tight to good advice; don't relax your grip. Guard it well—your life is at stake! Don't take Wicked Bypass; don't so much as set foot on that road. Stay clear of it; give it a wide berth. Make a detour and be on your way.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Hear, my son, and accept my sayings And the years of your life will be many.

Contextual Overview

1 Give ear, my sons, to the teaching of a father; give attention so that you may have knowledge: 2 For I give you good teaching; do not give up the knowledge you are getting from me. 3 For I was a son to my father, a gentle and an only one to my mother. 4 And he gave me teaching, saying to me, Keep my words in your heart; keep my rules so that you may have life: 5 Get wisdom, get true knowledge; keep it in memory, do not be turned away from the words of my mouth. 6 Do not give her up, and she will keep you; give her your love, and she will make you safe. 7 The first sign of wisdom is to get wisdom; go, give all you have to get true knowledge. 8 Put her in a high place, and you will be lifted up by her; she will give you honour, when you give her your love. 9 She will put a crown of grace on your head, giving you a head-dress of glory. 10 Give ear, O my son, and let your heart be open to my sayings; and long life will be yours.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

my: Proverbs 8:10, Proverbs 19:20, Job 22:22, Jeremiah 9:20, John 3:32, John 3:33, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Timothy 1:15

the: Proverbs 3:2, Proverbs 3:16, Deuteronomy 5:16, Deuteronomy 6:2

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 11:21 - your days Psalms 119:9 - shall Proverbs 4:22 - life Proverbs 23:19 - and guide Jeremiah 35:8 - General John 17:8 - received

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, I was tricked by the deceit of the snake and I took it.
Genesis 4:9
And the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he said, I have no idea: am I my brother's keeper?
Genesis 4:10
And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the earth.
Genesis 9:5
And for your blood, which is your life, will I take payment; from every beast I will take it, and from every man will I take payment for the blood of his brother-man.
Genesis 18:20
And the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is very great, and their sin is very evil,
Exodus 3:7
And God said, Truly, I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears; for I have knowledge of their sorrows;
Numbers 35:33
So do not make the land where you are living unholy: for blood makes the land unholy: and there is no way of making the land free from the blood which has come on it, but only by the death of him who was the cause of it.
Joshua 7:19
And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel; give me word now of what you have done, and keep nothing back from me.
2 Kings 9:26
I saw the blood of Naboth and of his sons yesterday; and I will give you full payment in this field, says the Lord? So now, take him and put him in this field, as the Lord said.
Job 16:18
O earth, let not my blood be covered, and let my cry have no resting-place!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 Proverbs 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The counsel which has come to him, in substance, from his father. Compare it with 2 Samuel 23:2 etc.; 1 Chronicles 28:9; 1 Chronicles 29:17; Psalms 15:1-5; Psalms 24:1-10; Psalms 37:0.

Proverbs 4:7

Or, “The beginning of wisdom is - get wisdom.” To seek is to find, to desire is to obtain.

Proverbs 4:12

The ever-recurring parable of the journey of life. In the way of wisdom the path is clear and open, obstacles disappear; in the quickest activity (“when thou runnest”) there is no risk of falling.

Proverbs 4:13

She is thy life - Another parallel between personified Wisdom in this book and the Incarnate Wisdom in John 1:4.

Proverbs 4:16

A fearful stage of debasement. Sin is the condition without which there can be no repose.

Proverbs 4:17

i. e., Bread and wine gained by unjust deeds. Compare Amos 2:8. A less probable interpretation is, “They eat wickedness as bread, and drink violence as wine.” Compare Job 15:16; Job 34:7.

Proverbs 4:18

Shining ... shineth - The two Hebrew words are different; the first having the sense of bright or clear. The beauty of a cloudless sunshine growing on, shining as it goes, to the full and perfect day, is chosen as the fittest figure of the ever increasing brightness of the good man’s life. Compare the marginal reference.

Proverbs 4:19

Compare our Lord’s teaching John 11:10; John 12:35.

Proverbs 4:20

The teacher speaks again in his own person.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 4:10. 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.


 
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