Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother. New Living Translation For I, too, was once my father’s son, tenderly loved as my mother’s only child. English Standard Version When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, Berean Standard Bible When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother, King James Bible For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. New King James Version When I was my father’s son, Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, New American Standard Bible When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, NASB 1995 When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, NASB 1977 When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, Legacy Standard Bible When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son before my mother, Amplified Bible When I was a son with my father (David), Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother (Bathsheba), Christian Standard Bible When I was a son with my father, tender and precious to my mother, Holman Christian Standard Bible When I was a son with my father, tender and precious to my mother, American Standard Version For I was a son unto my father, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. Contemporary English Version When I was still very young and my mother's favorite child, my father English Revised Version For I was a son unto my father, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. GOD'S WORD® Translation When I was a boy [learning] from my father, when I was a tender and only child of my mother, Good News Translation When I was only a little boy, my parents' only son, International Standard Version When I was a son to my father, not yet strong and an only son to my mother, Majority Standard Bible When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother, NET Bible When I was a son to my father, a tender only child before my mother, New Heart English Bible For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother. Webster's Bible Translation For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. World English Bible For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother. Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionFor I have been a son to my father—tender, "" And an only one before my mother. Young's Literal Translation For, a son I have been to my father -- tender, And an only one before my mother. Smith's Literal Translation For I was son to my father; tender and only before the face of my mother. Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleFor I also was my father's son, tender and as an only son in the sight of my mother: Catholic Public Domain Version For I, too, was the son of my father, tender and an only son in the sight of my mother. New American Bible When I was my father’s child, tender, the darling of my mother, New Revised Standard Version When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother’s favorite, Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleFor I was also a son to my father, tender and the only begotten in the sight of my mother. Peshitta Holy Bible Translated For I have been a delightful son to my father and an only child in the presence of my mother. OT Translations JPS Tanakh 1917For I was a son unto my father, Tender and an only one in the sight of my mother. Brenton Septuagint Translation For I also was a son obedient to my father, and loved in the sight of my mother: Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context A Father's Instruction…2For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive. 3When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother, 4he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.… Cross References Deuteronomy 6:6-7 These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. / And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. / “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), / “that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.” ... Colossians 3:20-21 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. / Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged. Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 2 Timothy 1:5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced is in you as well. Psalm 78:5-6 For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, / that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children 1 Kings 2:1-3 As the time drew near for David to die, he charged his son Solomon, / “I am about to go the way of all the earth. So be strong and prove yourself a man. / And keep the charge of the LORD your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, ordinances, and decrees, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you turn, 2 Timothy 3:14-15 But as for you, continue in the things you have learned and firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them. / From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Genesis 18:19 For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.” Luke 2:51-52 Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured up all these things in her heart. / And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Proverbs 1:8-9 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. / For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck. 1 Samuel 2:26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man. 2 Chronicles 22:3-4 Ahaziah also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in wickedness. / And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for to his destruction they were his counselors after the death of his father. Hebrews 12:9-10 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? / Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. Isaiah 38:19 The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness. Treasury of Scripture For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. 2 Samuel 12:24,25 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him… 1 Kings 1:13-17 Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? why then doth Adonijah reign? … 1 Chronicles 3:5 And these were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel: Jump to Previous Beloved Boy Child Father's Gentle House Mother Sight TenderJump to Next Beloved Boy Child Father's Gentle House Mother Sight TenderProverbs 4 1. persuades to wisdom14. and to show wickedness 20. He exhorts to sanctification When I was a son to my father This phrase introduces a personal reflection from Solomon, the attributed author of Proverbs. The Hebrew word for "son" is "בֵּן" (ben), which not only denotes a biological relationship but also implies a position of learning and inheritance. In ancient Israelite culture, the father-son relationship was central to the transmission of wisdom and tradition. Solomon's reference to being a son underscores the importance of familial instruction and the passing down of divine wisdom from one generation to the next. tender and the only child of my mother Tender.--The epithet applied to Solomon by his father (1Chronicles 29:1). Only beloved.--The word y?chid originally signified an "only" (son), as in Zechariah 12:10. Then it came to mean "beloved as an only son," and that appears to be the sense of it in Genesis 22:2, as applied to Isaac (for Ishmael was then living), and to Solomon here (for Bath-sheba had other children by David, 1Chronicles 3:5). In Greek translations it is rendered "only-begotten" and "well-beloved," epithets applied in their highest sense to Christ (John 1:14; Matthew 3:17). . . . Verse 3. - For I was my father's son. This is more than the mere statement of a physical fact. It indicates that the teacher was in the highest degree an object of endearment to his father, just as he states in the second hemistich that he held a unique position in the affection of his mother. `The statement agrees with the historical record. Solomon would be more than ordinarily dear to his father, as being a child of promise, as "the beloved of the Lord," and as the son whom the Divine will had pointed as the successor to his throne, and the one on whom was to devolve the building of the temple (see 2 Samuel 7:12, 13; 2 Samuel 12:24; 1 Chronicles 22:9). Bertheau explains, "I also once stood in the relation to my (actual) father in which you stand to me your paternal instructor," thus giving prominence rather to the consecution of the passage, and preparing the way for the reception of the father's advice which is to follow. But this rather loses sight of what appears an important element in the instruction, that not only was it "good," but that it was dictated by affection. The writer is fortifying and strengthening his instruction by the authority of his father, showing that what he was laying before others he had had placed before him; and as his father's advice was the outcome of affection, so he addresses his hearers in the same spirit. Dathe and others connect "tender" rak) with "son" (ben), and render, "I was a son dear to my father." So the LXX., which, however, understands "tender" in the sense of "tractable," "obedient:" "For I was an obedient son to my father" - a meaning which the word rak can only bear as indicating the susceptibility of the young to receive impressions. In general, rak means "tender," "soft," and has reference to the weakness and helplessness of the young; comp. Genesis 33:13, "My lord knoweth that the children are tender (rakkim)." Combined with yakhid, which follows, it signifies, in the passage before us, that the teacher was an object of tender care or love. The Vulgate tenellus, the diminutive of tener, as signifying "somewhat tender or delicate," reproduces the idea of the Hebrew rak. In the word the teacher recalls his early lifo and the instruction in wisdom which he received in it. Only beloved; literally, only (yakhid), as "beloved" does not occur in the original. The Vulgate renders, unigenitus; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, μονογενής, i.e. "only begotten:" but this was not literally the fact, as Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, had other sons (2 Samuel 5:14; 1 Chronicles 3:5). Both the Hebrew yakhid, "only," and the Vulgate unigenitus, "only begotten," consequently signify what is expressed by the LXX. ἀγαπώμενος, i.e. "beloved." Solomon was so beloved of his mother as if he were an only child. So yakhid is used of Isaac in Genesis 22:2, 12 in the same way, since at the time that Isaac was so designated, Ishmael, the other son of Abraham, was still living. The word yakhid occurs in Psalm 22:20, where it is rendered "darling," and may possibly refer to Solomon. Jennings, in Psalm 22:20, understands it, however, of the life besides which the psalmist has no other - unicam meam, as the Vulgate, i.e. "his only life" (cf. Psalm 35:17; and for the word yakhid, see Jeremiah 5:26; Amos 8:10; Zechariah 12:10). In the sight of my mother (liph'ne immi); literally, ad facies matris meae, or, before my mother; Vulgate, coram matre mea, i.e. in her estimation (cf. Genesis 17:18). The mention of the mother is probably introduced here for the sake of poetic parallelism; cf. Proverbs 1:8 (Zockler).Parallel Commentaries ... Hebrew Whenכִּי־ (kî-) Conjunction Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction I was הָיִ֣יתִי (hā·yî·ṯî) Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be a son בֵ֭ן (ḇên) Noun - masculine singular Strong's 1121: A son to my father, לְאָבִ֑י (lə·’ā·ḇî) Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular Strong's 1: Father tender רַ֥ךְ (raḵ) Adjective - masculine singular Strong's 7390: Tender, delicate, soft and the only child וְ֝יָחִ֗יד (wə·yā·ḥîḏ) Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular Strong's 3173: United, sole, beloved, lonely, the life of לִפְנֵ֥י (lip̄·nê) Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct Strong's 6440: The face my mother, אִמִּֽי׃ (’im·mî) Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular Strong's 517: A mother, ) Links Proverbs 4:3 NIVProverbs 4:3 NLT Proverbs 4:3 ESV Proverbs 4:3 NASB Proverbs 4:3 KJV Proverbs 4:3 BibleApps.com Proverbs 4:3 Biblia Paralela Proverbs 4:3 Chinese Bible Proverbs 4:3 French Bible Proverbs 4:3 Catholic Bible OT Poetry: Proverbs 4:3 For I was a son to my (Prov. 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