Proverbs 4
1Hear, ye banim, the musar (instruction, discipline) of an av, 1 and attend to know binah (understanding). 1
2For I give you lekach tov (good doctrine, good instruction), 1 forsake ye not my torah. 1
3For I was ben to avi, 1 tender and yachid (an only child) before immi. 1
4He taught me also, and said unto me, 1 Let thine lev retain my words; 1 be shomer over my mitzvot, and live. 1
5Acquire chochmah, acquire binah (understanding); forget it not; 1 neither turn from the words of my peh (mouth). 1
6Forsake her not, and she shall be shomer over thee; 1 love her, and she shall protect thee. 1
7Chochmah is the principal thing; 1 therefore get chochmah, and with all thy getting get binah (understanding). 1
8Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; 1 she shall honor thee with kavod, when thou dost embrace her. 1
9She shall give to thine head a garland of chen; 1 an ateret (crown) of tiferet (glory) shall she present to thee. 1
10Hear, O beni (my son), and receive my sayings; 1 and thy shnot chayyim shall be many. 1
11I have taught thee in the derech chochmah; 1 I have led thee in ma'aglei yosher (right paths). 1
12When thou goest, thy steps shall not be hindered; 1 and when thou runnest, lo tikashel (thou shalt not stumble). 1
13Take firm hold of musar; 1 let her not go; guard her; for she is thy chayyim. 1
14Enter not into the orach resha'im, 1 and go not on the derech ra'im (road of the wicked). 1
15Avoid it, travel al (not) on it, 1 turn from it, and pass on. 1
16For they sleep not, unless they have done evil; 1 and their sheynah (sleep) is robbed, unless they cause some to fall. 1
17For they eat the lechem of resha, 1 and drink the yayin of chamasim (violences). 1
18But the orach tzaddikim (path of the righteous) is as the bright light, 1 that shineth brighter and brighter unto the full day. 1
19The derech resha'im is as deep darkness; 1 they know not at what they stumble. 1
20Beni (my son), attend to my words; 1 incline thine ozen unto my sayings. 1
21Let them not depart from thine eyes; 1 be shomer over them within thine lev. 1
22For they are chayyim unto those that find them, 1 and health to all their basar. 1
23Set watch over and guard thy lev with all diligence; 1 for out of it are the totze'ot chayyim (issues, wellsprings of life). + 4:23 cf Mk 7:20-23 1
24Put away from thee a deceitful peh (mouth), 1 and perverse sfatayim (lips) put far from thee. 1
25Let thine eynayim look straight forward, 1 and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 1
26Ponder the ma'agal (path) of thy raglayim, 1 and let all thy drakhim be firm. 1
27Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; 1 remove thy regel from rah. + 4:27 T.N. Everyone in life has two paths to choose from just as Moshiach Tzidkeinu spoke of two gates, a wide one crowded with traffic and leading to destruction, and another one found by few but leading to life and redemption — Mt 7:13-14