Proverbs · 27 verses
Proverbs 4
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The wicked have a bedtime ritual of astonishing thoroughness: they cannot sleep until they have done evil and made someone fall.
A father’s inheritancevv. 1–9
A father calls his sons to listen, then opens the family cupboard of instruction: when he himself was a tender, only child, his father taught him to seize wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is treated rather splendidly here—not merely acquired, but loved, embraced, and eventually seen wearing a garland and presenting a crown.
Two paths, and one very poor night’s sleepvv. 10–19
The father promises to guide his son along wisdom’s straight paths, where walking and running proceed without impediment. Then comes the warning about the wicked: their way is dark, and their appetite for wrongdoing is so industrious that sleep itself must wait until someone has been made to fall. The righteous path, by contrast, begins as dawn and brightens towards midday.
The guarded heart and the straight gazevv. 20–27
The instruction turns inward and bodily: words are kept within the heart, the heart is guarded, the mouth is cleared of deception, the eyes look ahead, and the feet are given a level path. The final movement allows no dramatic flourish—only a refusal to swerve, either way, and a turning of the feet away from evil.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Prov 4:1Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
Prov 4:2For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive.
Prov 4:3When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,
Prov 4:4he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.
Prov 4:5Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.
Prov 4:6Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.
Prov 4:7Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding.
Prov 4:8Prize her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you.
Prov 4:9She will set a garland of grace on your head; she will present you with a crown of beauty.”
Prov 4:10Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many.
Prov 4:11I will guide you in the way of wisdom; I will lead you on straight paths.
Prov 4:12When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble.
Prov 4:13Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.
Prov 4:14Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.
Prov 4:15Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by.
Prov 4:16For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.
Prov 4:17For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
Prov 4:18The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
Prov 4:19But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
Prov 4:20My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
Prov 4:21Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.
Prov 4:22For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.
Prov 4:23Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
Prov 4:24Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech.
Prov 4:25Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
Prov 4:26Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure.
Prov 4:27Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 283 passages were voted onto 27 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 23Luke 6:45The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
- 23Matthew 12:34–35You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
- 23Mark 7:21–23For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- 23Psalms 139:23–24Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
- 23Proverbs 13:3He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.
- 23Jeremiah 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- 23Matthew 15:19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
- 23Proverbs 23:19Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
- 23Mark 14:38Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
- 23James 1:14–15But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
- 23Deuteronomy 4:9Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
- 23Hebrews 12:15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
- 18John 8:12Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- 18Job 11:17Your life will be brighter than noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.
- 18Daniel 12:3Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.
- 18Philippians 2:15so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
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