Proverbs 2:1

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
son	בְּ֭נִי Be.ni	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
receive	תִּקַּ֣ח ti.Kach	H3947	to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
words	אֲמָרָ֑י 'a.ma.Rai	H561	something said · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
hide	תִּצְפֹּ֥ן titz.Pon	H6845	to hide (by covering over) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
commandments	וּ֝מִצְוֹתַ֗י u.mitz.vo.Tai	H4687	a command · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Proverbs 1:3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
Proverbs 4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
John 12:47-48 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Psalms 119:9-11 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 2:1-9

Job had asked, long before this, Where shall wisdom be found? Whence cometh wisdom? (Job 28:12, Job 28:20) and he had given this general answer (v. 23), God knoweth the place of it; but Solomon here goes further, and tells us both where we may find it and how we may get it. We are here told, I. What means we must use that we may obtain wisdom. 1. We must closely attend to the word of God, for that is the word of wisdom, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, Pro 2:1, Pro 2:2. (1.) We must be convinced that the words of God are the fountain and standard of wisdom and understanding, and that we need not desire to be wiser than they will make us. We must incline our ear and apply our hea…

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John Gill on Proverbs 2:1

My son,.... These are either the continuation of the words of Solomon to his son Rehoboam; or to anyone that came to him for instruction, or was within the reach of being taught by him; whom he addresses in this tender and affectionate manner, in order to gain his attention to what he was about to say: or else they are the words of Wisdom, or Christ, continued, thus bespeaking: his children and people; and giving them some very wholesome counsel and advice, backed with the most powerful and prevailing arguments; if thou wilt receive my words; or doctrines: the doctrines of the Gospel, relating to the person, office, and grace of Christ, and salvation by him; such as the words of peace, pard…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 2:1-22

The father urges his son to seek wisdom. It will protect him from evil men and from the dangers of promiscuous women. The son must seek wisdom, while understanding that it is a gift from God. 2:1 To treasure my commands means to give attention to them and obey them; they allow us to live to the fullest.

Rashi on Proverbs 2:1

My son, if you accept my words You will be my son if you accept my words.

The Church Fathers

My son, if you accept my words, etc. He who stores up God's commandments within himself is he who, listening, carefully hides them in his heart, as the one who says: I have hidden your words in my heart, so that I might not sin against you. For it is greatly to be cared for that these should not be taken from us by demons, like the seed, as in the parable of the Gospel, cast by the wayside, which birds take away.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

Wisdom is open to all and loves humankind. Anyway, Solomon says, "My son, if you accept my words of instruction and keep them deep within you, your ear will listen to wisdom." This means that the word is sown and kept deep in the soul of the learner as if in the ground. This is spiritual growth.So he adds, "You shall direct your heart to understanding and direct it towards instruction for your son." For in my view, the union of soul with soul and spirit with spirit in accordance with the sowing of the word brings growth to the seed sown and produces life. Everyone who is educated in obedience to his educator becomes a son.
— Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 1

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Wisdom · .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).