Proverbs 6:21

Study note

Setting — A father addresses his son in a wisdom discourse, immediately following an injunction to keep the father’s commandment and not forsake the mother’s teaching. The instruction occurs during a direct parental transmission of moral guidance.

The words — The Hebrew verb קָשַׁר (qasar) means to bind, and גַּרְגֹּרֹת (gargorot) denotes the neck or throat. The text literally commands the listener to continually bind the teachings upon the heart and tie them around the neck.

The thread — This exact binding imagery runs through Proverbs 3:3 and Proverbs 7:3, while the related concept of writing instruction on the heart appears in 2 Corinthians 3:3. The repeated phrasing across these passages establishes a consistent biblical pattern for preserving teaching.

Why it lands — The verse requires continuous mental retention and a physical reminder of parental wisdom. It asks the reader to treat instruction as a permanent, unavoidable presence rather than a situational rule.

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.