DeaconGuided attention

Proverbs 4

Guard Your Heart, for From It Flow the Springs of Life

4:1Listen, children, to a father’s discipline;
pay attention to gain discernment,

4:2for I give you a good gift;
do not abandon my law.

4:3For I too became a son obedient to a father and loved in a mother’s presence,

4:4who said and taught me, Let our word take hold in your heart;

4:5keep commandments;
do not forget or disregard an utterance of my mouth,

4:6and do not abandon her, and she will hold fast to you;
love her, and she will keep you.

4:8Fortify her, and she will exalt you;
honor her so that she may embrace you,

4:9so that she may give your head a crown of graces and shield you with a crown of delight.

4:10Listen, son, and receive my words, and your years of life will multiply, so that many ways of living may be yours,

4:11for I teach you ways of wisdom and lead you onto straight tracks.

4:12For if you walk, your steps will not be shut in, and if you run, you will not grow weary.

4:13Take hold of my discipline;
do not release it, but keep it for yourself for your life.

4:14Do not enter the ways of the ungodly or imitate the ways of the lawless.

4:15Wherever they encamp, do not go there;
turn away from them and pass by.

4:16For they will not sleep unless they do harm;
their sleep has been taken away, and they do not lie down.

4:17For these people eat food of ungodliness and get drunk on lawless wine.

4:18But the ways of the righteous shine like light;
they go forward and illuminate until the day comes right.

4:19But the ways of the ungodly are dark;
they do not know how they stumble.

4:20Son, attend to my utterance;
apply your ear to my words,

4:21so that your springs do not fail you;
keep them in your heart,

4:22for there is life for those who find them and healing for all flesh.

4:23With every guard keep your heart, for from these come life’s outlets.

4:24Remove a crooked mouth from yourself and thrust unjust lips far away from you.

4:25Let your eyes look straight, and let your eyelids incline toward righteous things.

4:26Make straight tracks for your feet and direct your ways aright.

4:27Do not turn to the right or the left;
turn your foot away from an evil way.

4:27aFor God knows the ways on the right, but those on the left are perverted.

4:27bHe Himself will make your tracks straight and advance your journeys in peace.

Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.