Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
Clearing grief out of the heart means putting away inward sorrow, and clearing evil from the flesh means rejecting bodily evil. Childhood and youth are empty because they are temporary and brief, and youth and the prime of life pass quickly. Youthful pleasures, desires, choices, and the ways of the heart and eyes are accountable to God, who will bring them into judgment. The appeal is a warning shaped by Solomon's repentance after his own errors that turned the heart from God. While they have strength and opportunity, the young are to serve God and not waste youth in errors that turn the heart from Him.
The verse presses a turning point in destiny that must be seized now: to discern life's defects and mistakes, to repent with all the heart, to break the proud heart and bring the will into subjection to God's will, to obey parents and the heavenly Father, and to redeem the time in usefulness, moral excellence, and blessing others. Conscience long stifled will at last arouse and cannot be silenced or overborne. A misspent life will rise in the judgment to fasten guilt when it is too late for wrongs to be righted.
Putting away evil specifically requires rejecting sexual impropriety, impurity, and self-pollution, including conduct that corrupts oneself or others. Such impurity dulls moral judgment. The verse calls for modesty, reserve, purity, and careful adherence to rules consistent with God's moral standard.
Clearing grief out of the heart means putting away inward sorrow, and clearing evil from the flesh means rejecting bodily evil. Childhood and youth are empty because they are temporary and brief, and youth and the prime of life pass quickly. Youthful pleasures, desires, choices, and the ways of the heart and eyes are accountable to God, who will bring them into judgment. The appeal is a warning shaped by Solomon's repentance after his own errors that turned the heart from God. While they have strength and opportunity, the young are to serve God and not waste youth in errors that turn the heart from Him.
The verse presses a turning point in destiny that must be seized now: to discern life's defects and mistakes, to repent with all the heart, to break the proud heart and bring the will into subjection to God's will, to obey parents and the heavenly Father, and to redeem the time in usefulness, moral excellence, and blessing others. Conscience long stifled will at last arouse and cannot be silenced or overborne. A misspent life will rise in the judgment to fasten guilt when it is too late for wrongs to be righted.
Putting away evil specifically requires rejecting sexual impropriety, impurity, and self-pollution, including conduct that corrupts oneself or others. Such impurity dulls moral judgment. The verse calls for modesty, reserve, purity, and careful adherence to rules consistent with God's moral standard.