King James Bible
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

American Standard Version
Let not kindness and truth forsake thee: Bind them about thy neck; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart:

Young's Literal Translation
Let not kindness and truth forsake thee, Bind them on thy neck, Write them on the tablet of thy heart,

Proverbs 3:3 Additional Translations
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With this verse the doctrine begins; אל (not לא) shows the 3a does not continue the promise of Proverbs 3:2. חסד (R. חם, stringere, afficere) is, according to the prevailing usage of the language, well-affectedness, it may be of God toward men, or of men toward God, or of men toward one another - a loving disposition, of the same meaning as the N.T. ἀγάπη (vid., e.g., Hosea 6:6). אמת (from אמנת), continuance, a standing to one's promises, and not falsifying just expectations; thus fidelity, πίστις, in the interrelated sense of fides and fidelitas. These two states of mind and of conduct are here contemplated as moral powers (Psalm 61:8; Psalm 43:3), which are of excellent service, and bring precious gain; and 4b shows that their ramification on the side of God and of men, the religious and the moral, remains radically inseparable. The suffix ם does not refer to the doctrine and the precepts, but to these two cardinal virtues. If the disciple is admonished to bind them about his neck (vid., Proverbs 1:9, cf. Proverbs 3:22), so here reference is made, not to ornament, nor yet to protection against evil influences by means of them, as by an amulet

(Note: Fleischer is here reminded of the giraffe in the Jardin des Plantes, the head of which was adorned by its Arabic keeper with strings and jewels, the object of which was to turn aside the ‛ain [the bad, mischievous look] from the precious beast.)

(for which proofs are wanting), but to the signet which was wont to be constantly carried (Genesis 38:18, cf. Sol 8:6) on a string around the neck. The parallel member 3c confirms this; 3b and 3c together put us in mind of the Tephillim (phylacteries), Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:18, in which what is here a figure is presented in external form, but as the real figure of that which is required in the inward parts. לוּח (from לוּח, Arab. l'ah, to begin to shine, e.g., of a shooting star, gleaming sword; vid., Wetzstein, Deutsch. morgenl. Zeitschr. xxii. 151f.) signifies the tablet prepared for writing by means of polish; to write love and fidelity on the tablet of the heart, is to impress deeply on the heart the duty of both virtues, so that one will be impelled to them from within outward (Jeremiah 31:33).

Proverbs 3:3 Parallel Commentaries
Bind Faith Faithfulness Forsake Good Hanging Heart Kindness Leave Loving-Kindness Mercy Neck Recorded Round Table Tablet Truth WriteBind Faith Faithfulness Forsake Good Hanging Heart Kindness Leave Loving-Kindness Mercy Neck Recorded Round Table Tablet Truth WriteThe ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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