Proverbs 4:5

Bible in Basic English

Get wisdom, get true knowledge; keep it in memory, do not be turned away from the words of my mouth.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Get wisdom, get understanding;don’t forget or turn away from the words from my mouth.

Hebrew Names Version
Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.

King James Version
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

English Standard Version
Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

New Century Version
Get wisdom and understanding. Don't forget or ignore my words.

New English Translation
Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding; do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak.

Amplified Bible
"Get [skillful and godly] wisdom! Acquire understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation]! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

New American Standard Bible
Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

World English Bible
Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Get wisedom: get vnderstading: forget not, neither decline from the woordes of my mouth.

Legacy Standard Bible
Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!Do not forget and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.

Berean Standard Bible
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.

Contemporary English Version
Be wise and learn good sense; remember my teachings and do what I say.

Complete Jewish Bible
gain wisdom, gain insight; don't forget or turn from the words I am saying.

Darby Translation
Get wisdom, get intelligence: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Easy-to-Read Version
Try to get wisdom and understanding. Don't forget my teaching or ignore what I say.

George Lamsa Translation
Get wisdom, get understanding; and turn not aside from the words of my mouth.

Good News Translation
Get wisdom and insight! Do not forget or ignore what I say.

Lexham English Bible
Get wisdom and insight; do not forget and do not turn from the sayings of my mouth.

Literal Translation
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forsake and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Get the wy?dome, get the vnderstondinge, forget not ye wordes of my mouth, & shreke not from them.

American Standard Version
Get wisdom, get understanding; Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

King James Version (1611)
Get wisedome, get vnderstanding: forget it not, neither decline from the wordes of my mouth.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Get thee wysdome, and get thee vnderstanding: forget not the wordes of my mouth, and shrinke not from them.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and do not neglect the speech of my mouth.

English Revised Version
Get wisdom, get understanding; forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Welde thou wisdom, welde thou prudence; foryete thou not, nethir bowe thou awey fro the wordis of my mouth.

Update Bible Version
Get wisdom, get understanding; Don't forget, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

Webster's Bible Translation
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

New King James Version
Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

New Living Translation
Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don't forget my words or turn away from them.

New Life Bible
Get wisdom and understanding. Do not forget or turn away from the words of my mouth.

New Revised Standard
Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding, Do not forget, neither decline thou from the sayings of my mouth.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Revised Standard Version
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Get wisdom; get insight.

Young's Literal Translation
Get wisdom, get understanding, Do not forget, nor turn away From the sayings of my mouth.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

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

Get wisdom: Proverbs 1:22, Proverbs 1:23, Proverbs 2:2-4, Proverbs 3:13-18, Proverbs 8:5, Proverbs 17:16, Proverbs 18:1, Proverbs 19:8, Proverbs 23:23, James 1:5

neither: 2 Chronicles 34:2, Job 23:11, Psalms 44:18, Psalms 119:51, Psalms 119:157

Reciprocal: Psalms 90:12 - that Proverbs 8:11 - wisdom Proverbs 11:9 - through Proverbs 18:15 - General Ecclesiastes 2:13 - I saw Luke 8:12 - then 2 Thessalonians 2:10 - they received Hebrews 12:5 - ye have forgotten

Cross-References

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 4:11
And now you are cursed from the earth, whose mouth is open to take your brother's blood from your hand;

Genesis 31:2
And Jacob saw that Laban's feeling for him was no longer what it had been before.

Genesis 31:5
And he said to them, It is clear to me that your father's feeling is no longer what it was to me; but the God of my father has been with me

Numbers 16:15
Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, Give no attention to their offering: not one of their asses have I taken, or done wrong to any of them.

Job 5:2
For wrath is the cause of death to the foolish, and he who has no wisdom comes to his end through passion.

Psalms 20:3
May he keep all your offerings in mind, and be pleased with the fat of your burned offerings; (Selah.)

Matthew 20:15
Have I not the right to do as seems good to me in my house? or is your eye evil, because I am good?

Acts 13:45
But when the Jews saw such a great number of people, they were full of envy and said evil words against Paul's preaching.

Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel made a better offering to God than Cain, and he had witness through it of his righteousness, God giving his approval of his offering: and his voice still comes to us through it though he is dead.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Get wisdom, get understanding,.... Not only moral and political wisdom and understanding, but that which is spiritual and evangelical; Christ, and the knowledge of him; he being the only happy man that has an interest in him, and is possessed of him by faith, which is the meaning of getting him; :-; by which it appears, that what Solomon had before delivered, and afterwards repeats and urges, was the same his father David, that wise, great, and good man, taught him; and which he mentions, the more to recommend the getting of wisdom and understanding to others;

forget [it] not; when gotten, keep it in remembrance; be continually meditating on Wisdom, or Christ, his glories and excellencies; the fulness of grace and truth in him; the blessings of goodness which come by him; the great use and profit of having and enjoying him;

neither decline from the words of my mouth; the above instructions, and all others he gave unto him.

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 4:5. Get wisdom — True religion is essential to thy happiness; never forget its teachings, nor go aside from the path it prescribes.