Bible Strands
Proverbs 19:20
Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wise teacher addresses a student in Proverbs, positioning this instruction between a warning about the consequences of unchecked anger and a statement on the supremacy of divine purpose.
The words — שְׁמַע (she.ma') means "listen to" and מוּסָר (mu.sar) means "correction" or "discipline," forming the core command of the verse.
The thread — This theme of receptive instruction appears in Proverbs 12:15, which contrasts the fool's self-reliance with the wise man's willingness to listen, and in Proverbs 8:34, which promises blessing to those who heed wisdom's call.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to actively receive external guidance and corrective training as the practical means to sustain wisdom throughout life.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel.
- Proverbs 8:34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at the posts of my doorway.
- Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
- Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
- Proverbs 4:1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
- Numbers 23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!”
- Luke 16:19 Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
- Psalms 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with Your loving devotion, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
- Psalms 37:37 Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.
- Psalms 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.