Proverbs 3:1

THE MESSAGE

Good friend, don't forget all I've taught you; take to heart my commands. They'll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
My son, don’t forget my teaching,

Hebrew Names Version
My son, don't forget my teaching; But let your heart keep my mitzvot:

King James Version
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

English Standard Version
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,

New Century Version
My child, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in mind.

New English Translation
My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,

Amplified Bible
My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments;

New American Standard Bible
My son, do not forget my teaching, But have your heart comply with my commandments;

World English Bible
My son, don't forget my teaching; But let your heart keep my commandments:

Geneva Bible (1587)
My sonne, forget not thou my Lawe, but let thine heart keepe my commandements.

Legacy Standard Bible
My son, do not forget my law,But let your heart guard my commandments;

Berean Standard Bible
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;

Contemporary English Version
My child, remember my teachings and instructions and obey them completely.

Complete Jewish Bible
My son, don't forget my teaching, keep my commands in your heart;

Darby Translation
My son, forget not my teaching, and let thy heart observe my commandments;

Easy-to-Read Version
My son, don't forget my teaching. Remember what I tell you to do.

George Lamsa Translation
My son, do not forget my law; but let your heart keep my commandments;

Good News Translation
My child, don't forget what I teach you. Always remember what I tell you to do.

Lexham English Bible
My child, do not forget my instruction, and may your heart guard my commands.

Literal Translation
My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
My sonne, forget not my lawe, but se yt thine hert kepe my comaundemetes.

American Standard Version
My son, forget not my law; But let thy heart keep my commandments:

Bible in Basic English
My son, keep my teaching in your memory, and my rules in your heart:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
My son, forget not my teaching; but let thy heart keep my commandments;

King James Version (1611)
My sonne, forget not my lawe; but let thine heart keepe my commaundements:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
My sonne, forget not thou my lawe, but see that thine heart kepe my commaundementes:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
My son, forget not my laws; but let thine heart keep my words:

English Revised Version
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Mi sone, foryete thou not my lawe; and thyn herte kepe my comaundementis.

Update Bible Version
My son, do not forget my law; But let your heart keep my commandments:

Webster's Bible Translation
My son, forget not my law; but let thy heart keep my commandments;

New King James Version
My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands;

New Living Translation
My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart.

New Life Bible
My son, do not forget my teaching. Let your heart keep my words.

New Revised Standard
My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
My son, mine instruction, do not thou forget, and, my commandment, let thy heart observe;

Douay-Rheims Bible
My son, forget not my law, and let thy heart keep my commandments.

Revised Standard Version
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;

Young's Literal Translation
My son! my law forget not, And my commands let thy heart keep,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments;

Contextual Overview

¹ Good friend, don't forget all I've taught you; take to heart my commands. They'll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well. ³Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God's eyes and the eyes of the people. ⁵Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God 's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God ! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don't, dear friend, resent God 's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. It's the child he loves that God corrects; a father's delight is behind all this.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

forget: Proverbs 1:8, Proverbs 4:5, Proverbs 31:5, Deuteronomy 4:23, Psalms 119:93, Psalms 119:153, Psalms 119:176, Hosea 4:6

let: Deuteronomy 4:9, Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Deuteronomy 8:1, Deuteronomy 30:16-20, Psalms 119:11, Psalms 119:16, Psalms 119:34, Psalms 119:47, Psalms 119:48, Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 31:33, John 14:21-24

Reciprocal: Numbers 15:39 - remember Deuteronomy 6:2 - thy days Deuteronomy 11:18 - ye lay up Deuteronomy 26:13 - forgotten Deuteronomy 32:46 - General Deuteronomy 32:47 - General Joshua 1:8 - thou shalt 1 Kings 2:3 - prosper 1 Chronicles 28:8 - keep Psalms 32:8 - instruct Psalms 40:8 - yea Psalms 103:18 - remember Psalms 119:141 - yet do Psalms 119:165 - Great Proverbs 2:1 - hide Proverbs 3:21 - let Proverbs 4:4 - Let Proverbs 7:1 - My son Proverbs 10:17 - the way Proverbs 19:16 - keepeth the Proverbs 22:17 - and hear Proverbs 28:7 - keepeth Luke 8:15 - keep John 17:6 - they Romans 12:2 - good 1 Corinthians 15:2 - keep in memory 1 Thessalonians 2:11 - as 1 Thessalonians 5:21 - hold Hebrews 12:5 - ye have forgotten

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."

Isaiah 27:1
At that time God will unsheathe his sword, his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.

Matthew 10:16
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.

2 Corinthians 11:14
Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

1 Peter 3:7
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

My son, forget not my law,.... Or, "doctrine" e; the doctrine of Christ, the Gospel, and the several truths of it; which, being of the utmost moment and importance, should be kept in memory, and not let slip, or be in the least slighted and neglected; see Hebrews 2:1;

but let thine heart keep my commandments; as the ark, or chest, kept the two tables of the law put into it; it denotes a cordial affection for the commandments and ordinances of Christ, a hearty attention and obedience to them, and a constant and cheerful observance of them, flowing from love and gratitude to him, John 14:15.

e תורתי "doctrinae meae", Piscator, Michaelis; "institutionem meam", Schultens; "doctrinam meam", Cocceius.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER III

An exhortation to obedience, 1-4;

trust in God's providence, 5, 6;

to humility, 7, 8;

to charity, 9, 10;

to submission to God's chastening, 11, 12.

The profitableness of wisdom in all the concerns of life,

13-26.

No act of duty should be deferred beyond the time in which it

should be done, 27, 28.

Brotherly love and forbearance should he exercised, 29, 30.

We should not envy the wicked, 31, 32.

The curse of God is in the house of the wicked; but the humble

and wise shall prosper, 33-35.

NOTES ON CHAP. III

Verse Proverbs 3:1. My son — The preceptor continues to deliver his lessons.

Forget not my law — Remember what thou hast heard, and practise what thou dost remember; and let all obedience be from the heart: "Let thy heart keep my commandments."