properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
understanding
תְּבוּנָ֥הte.vu.Nah
H8394
intelligence · noun, common feminine singular absolute
keep
תִנְצְרֶֽכָּהtin.tze.Re.kah
H5341
to guard · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
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 4:6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
Ephesians 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Psalms 25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
Psalms 119:9-11 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
Proverbs 6:22-24 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
Ecclesiastes 9:15-18 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 2:10–end
The scope of these verses is to show, 1. What great advantage true wisdom will be of to us; it will keep us from the paths of sin, which lead to ruin, and will therein do us a greater kindness than if it enriched us with all the wealth of the world. 2. What good use we should make of the wisdom God gives us; we must use it for our own guidance in the paths of virtue, and for the arming of us against temptations of every kind. 3. By what rules we may try ourselves whether we have this wisdom or no. This tree will be known by its fruits; if we be truly wise, it will appear by our care to avoid all evil company and evil practices.
This wisdom will be of use to us,
I. For our preservation from e…
Idea of Pro 2:9, amplified; on terms, compare Pro 2:2 and Pro 2:4.
John Gill on Proverbs 2:11
Discretion shall preserve thee,.... Which wisdom or the Gospel gives, or the Lord by the means of it; for the Gospel makes a man wise and discreet in the business of salvation, and in his conduct and deportment; and the discretion it gives him will put him upon his guard, and direct him to watch against every error, and every false way. And so the words may be rendered, "discretion will watch over thee"; to keep thee from everything pernicious in doctrine and practice. The Septuagint version renders it, "good counsel"; which wisdom gives, and the Gospel is full of; and which, if attended to, is a means of the preservation of the saints;
understanding shall keep thee; which is only the same…
With the אז repeated, the promises encouraging to the endeavour after wisdom take a new departure:
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and justice,
And uprightness; every way of good.
10 For wisdom will enter into thine heart,
And knowledge will do good to thy soul;
11 Discretion will keep watch over thee,
Understanding will keep thee.
Regarding the ethical triad מישׁרים [righteousness, rightness], משׁפּט [judgment], and צדק [rectitude], vid., Pro 1:3. Seb. Schmid is wrong in his rendering, et omnis via qua bonum aditur erit tibi plana, which in comparison with Isa 26:7 would be feebly expressed. J. H. Michaelis rightly interprets all these four conceptions as object-accusatives; the…
The Church Fathers
Counsel will guard you, etc. The evil way, the works of iniquity; the man speaking perversely, he calls the teachers of iniquitous behavior. The evil way, onto which they call those who say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood. The perverse speaker, he signifies as the author of this persuasion.
We read in sacred Scripture, dearly beloved, that holy counsel should keep those who are solicitous for their soul's salvation, as the divine Word puts it: "Holy counsel shall keep you." If holy counsel keeps a soul, that which is unholy not only fails to keep it but even kills it. Perhaps someone says, Who can always be thinking of God and eternal bliss, since all people must be solicitous for food, clothing and the management of their household? God does not bid us be free from all anxiety over the present life, for he instructs us through his apostle: "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat." The same apostle repeats the idea with reference to himself when he says, "We worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you." Since God especially advises reasonable thought of food and clothing, so long as avarice and ambition which usually serve dissipation are not linked with it, any action or thought is most rightly considered holy. The only provision is that those preoccupations should not be so excessive that they do not allow us to have time for God, according to the words: "The burdens of the world have made them miserable." Since bodily necessities are satisfied with little, while ambition is never appeased even if it obtains the whole world, let us reject wicked thoughts which spring from the poisonous root of passion. Let us, on the other hand, love only those which will help us obtain an eternal reward, so that what was said before may be fulfilled in us: "Holy counsel shall keep you."
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
Alliance And Society With The Enemies Of God · Means of preservation from — Means of preservation from
Chastity · Preserved by wisdom — Preserved by wisdom
Company · EVIL — EVIL
Prudence · They who have: Are preserved by it — They who have: Are preserved by it
Righteousness · FRUITS OF — FRUITS OF
Temptation · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
Wisdom will enter your heart, becoming an integral part of life. Rather than occasionally doing wise things, the wise person consistently makes wise choices. • Knowledge brings joy because it helps people live successfully.
Rashi on Proverbs 2:11
thought Heb. מזמה. The Torah shall watch over you.
