{"meta":{"source":"Prime Bible","sourceUrl":"https://primebible.com","license":"Public domain (translation text); see citation policy at /citation-policy","organization":"501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 41-2531951","canonicalUrl":"https://primebible.com/drb/proverbs/4","llmTxt":"https://primebible.com/llms.txt","generatedAt":"2026-05-31T09:20:29.268Z"},"reference":{"translation":"DRB","book":"Proverbs","bookSlug":"proverbs","chapter":4,"testament":"OLD"},"navigation":{"previousChapter":3,"nextChapter":5,"totalChapters":31,"totalVerses":27},"verses":[{"verseNumber":1,"text":"Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend that you may know prudence. "},{"verseNumber":2,"text":"I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law. "},{"verseNumber":3,"text":"For I also was my father's son, tender and as an only son in the sight of my mother: "},{"verseNumber":4,"text":"And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live. "},{"verseNumber":5,"text":"Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. "},{"verseNumber":6,"text":"Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee. "},{"verseNumber":7,"text":"The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence. "},{"verseNumber":8,"text":"Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her. "},{"verseNumber":9,"text":"She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown. "},{"verseNumber":10,"text":"Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee. "},{"verseNumber":11,"text":"I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity: "},{"verseNumber":12,"text":"Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock. "},{"verseNumber":13,"text":"Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life. "},{"verseNumber":14,"text":"Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee. "},{"verseNumber":15,"text":"Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it. "},{"verseNumber":16,"text":"For they sleep not except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall. "},{"verseNumber":17,"text":"They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity. "},{"verseNumber":18,"text":"But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day. "},{"verseNumber":19,"text":"The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall. "},{"verseNumber":20,"text":"My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings. "},{"verseNumber":21,"text":"Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart: "},{"verseNumber":22,"text":"For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh. "},{"verseNumber":23,"text":"With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it. "},{"verseNumber":24,"text":"Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee. "},{"verseNumber":25,"text":"Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps. "},{"verseNumber":26,"text":"Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established. "},{"verseNumber":27,"text":"Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will make thy courses straight, he will bring forward thy ways in peace. "}],"citation":{"inline":"Proverbs 4 (DRB)","markdown":"[Proverbs 4](https://primebible.com/drb/proverbs/4)","sbl":"Prime Bible. *The Bible.* DRB. https://primebible.com/drb/proverbs/4 (accessed 2026-05-31)."}}