Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, New Living Translation My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel. English Standard Version My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, Berean Study Bible My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, New American Standard Bible My son, give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding; New King James Version My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, King James Bible My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: Christian Standard Bible My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding Contemporary English Version My son, if you listen closely to my wisdom and good sense, Good News Translation My child, pay attention and listen to my wisdom and insight. Holman Christian Standard Bible My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding International Standard Version My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and listen closely to my insight, NET Bible My child, be attentive to my wisdom, pay close attention to my understanding, New Heart English Bible My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding: Aramaic Bible in Plain English My son, give ear to my wisdom and incline your ear to my sayings GOD'S WORD® Translation My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Open your ears to my understanding JPS Tanakh 1917 My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding; New American Standard 1977 My son, give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding; Jubilee Bible 2000 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my intelligence; King James 2000 Bible My son, be attentive to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my understanding: American King James Version My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow your ear to my understanding: American Standard Version My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding: Brenton Septuagint Translation My son, attend to my wisdom, and apply thine ear to my words; Douay-Rheims Bible My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence. Darby Bible Translation My son, attend unto my wisdom, incline thine ear to my understanding; English Revised Version My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding: Webster's Bible Translation My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow thy ear to my understanding: World English Bible My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding: Young's Literal Translation My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear, Study Bible Avoiding Immorality1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, 2that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.… Cross References Proverbs 4:20 My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Proverbs 22:17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise--apply your mind to my knowledge-- Treasury of Scripture My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow your ear to my understanding: bow Proverbs 22:17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: Lexicon My son,בְּ֭נִי (bə·nî) Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular Strong's Hebrew 1121: A son pay attention הַקְשִׁ֑יבָה (haq·šî·ḇāh) Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine singular | third person feminine singular Strong's Hebrew 7181: To prick up the ears, hearken to my wisdom; לְחָכְמָתִ֣י (lə·ḥā·ḵə·mā·ṯî) Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular Strong's Hebrew 2451: Wisdom incline הַט־ (haṭ-) Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine singular Strong's Hebrew 5186: To stretch out, spread out, extend, incline, bend your ear אָזְנֶֽךָ׃ (’ā·zə·ne·ḵā) Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular Strong's Hebrew 241: Broadness, the ear to my understanding, לִ֝תְבוּנָתִ֗י (liṯ·ḇū·nā·ṯî) Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular Strong's Hebrew 8394: Intelligence, an argument, caprice Verses 1-23. - 8. Eighth admonitory discourse. Warning against adultery, and commendation of marriage. The teacher, in this discourse, recurs to a subject which he has glanced at before in Proverbs 2:15-19, and which he again treats of in the latter part of the sixth and in the whole of the seventh chapters. This constant recurrence to the same subject, repulsive on account of its associations, shows, however, the importance which it had in the teacher's estimation as a ground of warning, and that he ranked it among the foremost of the temptations and sins which called the young off from the pursuit of Wisdom, and so led them astray from "the fear of the Lord." The vividness with which the ruin, bodily and moral, ensuing with absolute certainty on a life of vice, is described is a sufficient proof in itself that the subject before us is not brought forward from or for voluptuous motives, but for the purpose of conveying an impressive warning. Some commentators, e.g. Delitzsch, include the first six verses in the previous discourse; but the unity of the subject requires a different treatment. Zockler's reason against this arrangement, on the ground that the previous discourse was addressed to "tender youth," and thus to youth in a state of pupilage, while the one before us refers to more advanced age - to the married man - may be true, but is not the true ground for incorporating them in the present discourse. The unity of the subject requires that they should be taken with the central and didactic part of the discourse, as being in a sense introductory to it. The discourse divides itself into three sections. (1) The earnest appeal to attention because of the counter-attraction in the blandishments of the harlot, which, however, in the end, are bitter as wormwood and sharp as a two-edged sword (vers. 1-6). (2) The main or didactic section (vers. 7-20), embracing (a) warnings against adulterous intercourse with "the strange woman" (vers. 7-14); (b) the antithetical admonition to use the means of chastity by remaining faithful to, and rejoicing with, the wife of one's youth (vers 15-20). And (3) the epilogue, which, in addition to the disastrous temporal consequences which follow on the violation of the sanctity of marriage, mentioned in vers. 9-14, represents the sin as one which will be examined by the universal Judge, and which brings with it its own Nemesis or retribution. All sins of impurity, all sins against temperance, soberness, and chastity, are no doubt involved in the warning, and the subject is capable of an allegorical interpretation - a mode of treatment in some instances adopted by the LXX. rendering, as that the "strange woman" stands as the representative of impenitence (Miller), or, according to the earlier view of Bede, as the representative of heresy and false doctrine; but the sin which is inveighed against, and which is made the subject of these repeated warnings, is not fornication simply, but adultery - the violation, in its most repulsive form, of the sacred obligations of marriage. The whole discourse is an impressive commentary on the seventh commandment. Verse 1. - The admonitory address is very similar to that in Proverbs 4:20, except that here the teacher says," Attend to my wisdom, bow down thine ear to my understanding," instead of "Attend to my words, and incline thine ear unto my saying." It is not merely "wisdom" and "understanding" in the abstract, but wisdom which he has appropriated to himself, made his own, and which he knows by experience to be true wisdom. It may therefore have the sense of experience and observation, both of which increase with years. To "bow down the ear" is to listen attentively, and so to fix the mind intently on what is being said. Compare the similar expressions in Psalm 31:2 and Proverbs 2:2; Proverbs 4:20; 33:12. The same idea is expressed in Mare Antony's address to his countrymen, "Lend me your ears" (Shakespeare, 'Julius Caesar,' act 3. sc. 2). 5:1-14 Solomon cautions all young men, as his children, to abstain from fleshly lusts. Some, by the adulterous woman, here understand idolatry, false doctrine, which tends to lead astray men's minds and manners; but the direct view is to warn against seventh-commandment sins. Often these have been, and still are, Satan's method of drawing men from the worship of God into false religion. Consider how fatal the consequences; how bitter the fruit! Take it any way, it wounds. It leads to the torments of hell. The direct tendency of this sin is to the destruction of body and soul. We must carefully avoid every thing which may be a step towards it. Those who would be kept from harm, must keep out of harm's way. If we thrust ourselves into temptation we mock God when we pray, Lead us not into temptation. How many mischiefs attend this sin! It blasts the reputation; it wastes time; it ruins the estate; it is destructive to health; it will fill the mind with horror. Though thou art merry now, yet sooner or later it will bring sorrow. The convinced sinner reproaches himself, and makes no excuse for his folly. By the frequent acts of sin, the habits of it become rooted and confirmed. By a miracle of mercy true repentance may prevent the dreadful consequences of such sins; but this is not often; far more die as they have lived. What can express the case of the self-ruined sinner in the eternal world, enduring the remorse of his conscience! Jump to Previous Attend Attention Attentive Bow Ear Incline Insight Pay Teaching Turn Turned Understanding Wisdom WordsJump to Next Attend Attention Attentive Bow Ear Incline Insight Pay Teaching Turn Turned Understanding Wisdom WordsLinks Proverbs 5:1 NIVProverbs 5:1 NLT Proverbs 5:1 ESV Proverbs 5:1 NASB Proverbs 5:1 KJV Proverbs 5:1 Bible Apps Proverbs 5:1 Biblia Paralela Proverbs 5:1 Chinese Bible Proverbs 5:1 French Bible Proverbs 5:1 German Bible Alphabetical: attention ear give Incline insight listen My of pay son to understanding well wisdom words your OT Poetry: Proverbs 5:1 My son pay attention to my wisdom (Prov. Pro Pr) Christian Bible Study Resources, Dictionary, Concordance and Search Tools |