Bible Strands
Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A father addresses his son in a wisdom discourse, immediately following an exhortation to internalize divine words and preceding instructions to physically mark them.
The words — שְׁמֹ֣ר (she.Mor) means "keep" and כְּ/אִישׁ֥וֹן (ke./'i.Shon) literally denotes the "pupil" of the eye, describing the precise object of the verb.
The thread — The command to keep statutes for life appears in Leviticus 18:5, while the "apple of the eye" imagery recurs in Psalms 17:8.
Why it lands — It demands immediate obedience to divine instruction by treating it with the same protective vigilance one applies to the most vulnerable part of the body.
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
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
Cross-references
- Psalms 17:8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
- Leviticus 18:5 Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the LORD.
- Proverbs 4:4 he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.
- 1 John 2:3 By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.
- John 14:21 Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
- 1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.
- Deuteronomy 32:10 He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
- Proverbs 4:13 Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.
- Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
- John 12:49 I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.