Bible Strands
Proverbs 6:20
My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses a son in the immediate context of warning against a false witness who stirs up discord among brothers. The instruction is positioned directly before a command to bind parental wisdom upon the heart and neck.
The words — The imperative נְצֹ֣ר (ne.Tzor) commands the listener to "keep" or guard, while תִּ֝טֹּ֗שׁ (ti.Tosh) prohibits the action of "forsaking" or abandoning. These two verbs establish the dual requirement to actively preserve and never discard parental teaching.
The thread — This pattern of preserving parental instruction runs through Proverbs 7:1, which commands treasuring commandments within the heart, and aligns with the covenantal curse in Deuteronomy 27:16 against dishonoring parents. The New Testament applies the same structural principle in Ephesians 6:1.
Why it lands — The verse demands immediate compliance with parental instruction and forbids abandoning it. It requires the reader to treat family authority as a fixed standard for conduct rather than a suggestion.
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
My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Cross-references
- Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
- Deuteronomy 27:16 ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words and treasure 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 23:22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
- Deuteronomy 21:18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,
- Proverbs 30:11 There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.