Bible Strands
Proverbs 23:19
Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses a son, issuing a direct parental command within a broader instructional discourse.
The words — שָׁמַע (she.ma'-, listen) and לֵב (li.Be./kha, heart) anchor the verse’s imperative call to attentive obedience.
The thread — This instruction echoes in Proverbs 23:12, Proverbs 23:26, and Proverbs 4:10, where parental guidance repeatedly calls for focused attention and heart alignment.
Why it lands — The text commands immediate auditory and moral attention, requiring the reader to actively direct their inner disposition toward a disciplined path rather than passive reception.
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 thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
- Proverbs 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
- Proverbs 4:10 Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many.
- Proverbs 6:6 Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.
- Proverbs 9:6 Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”