Bible Strands
Proverbs 4:13
Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Solomon addresses his son in a direct pedagogical appeal, positioned between a promise of unimpeded progress and a warning to avoid the path of the wicked.
The words — הַחֲזֵ֣ק (ha.cha.Zek) commands "take hold" of בַּ/מּוּסָ֣ר (ba./mu.Sar), "discipline," paired with נִ֝צְּרֶ֗/הָ (ni.tze.Re./ha), "guard it," emphasizing physical retention of abstract teaching.
The thread — The imperative to retain divine instruction echoes Hebrews 2:1's warning against drifting from what was heard and Proverbs 23:23's command to invest in truth without selling wisdom.
Why it lands — The text demands active, unyielding retention of moral teaching as a prerequisite for survival, framing discipline not as optional advice but as the structural basis of one's existence.
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
Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 2:1 We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
- Proverbs 3:18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
- Proverbs 23:23 Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
- Deuteronomy 32:47 For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21 but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.
- Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
- Acts 11:23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
- John 6:68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
- Ecclesiastes 7:12 For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.
- Song of Solomon 3:4 I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.