Proverbs 4:20-22 New English Translation
20 My child, pay attention to my words;
listen attentively[a] to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart[b] from your sight,
guard[c] them within your heart;[d]
22 for they are life to those who find them
and healing to one’s entire body.[e]
Footnotes
- Proverbs 4:20 tn Heb “incline your ear.” The verb הַט (hat) is the Hiphil imperative from נָטָה (natah, Hiphil: “to turn to; to incline”). The idiom “to incline the ear” gives the picture of “lean over and listen closely.” sn Commentators note the use of the body in this section: ear (v. 20), eyes (v. 21), flesh (v. 22), heart (v. 23), lips (v. 24), eyes (v. 25), feet (v. 26), and hands and feet (v. 27). Each is a synecdoche of part representing the whole; the total accumulation signifies the complete person in the process.
- Proverbs 4:21 tn The Hiphil form יַלִּיזוּ (yallizu) follows the Aramaic with gemination. The verb means “to turn aside; to depart” (intransitive Hiphil or inner causative).
- Proverbs 4:21 tn Or “keep” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV and many others).
- Proverbs 4:21 sn The words “eyes” and “heart” are metonymies of subject representing the faculties of each. Cf. CEV “think about it all.”
- Proverbs 4:22 tn Heb “to all of his flesh.”
New English Translation (NET)
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