My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
The verse stands in a portion of Proverbs full of splendid, practical counsel and faithful warnings. Following that counsel keeps people from destruction. It is part of deep instruction to be read slowly and thought over until it takes hold upon the human heart. It calls a son to give close attention to wisdom and to bow the ear to heed instruction and understanding.
That instruction directs him to choose the path of life. The chapter is to fill the young man's mind and train him to resist sexual temptation and the snares that foster and arouse sexual passion. With the rest of the chapter the verse warns both men and women against condemned sins. Rejecting such reproof and breaking God's spiritual laws brings spiritual disease and death. The latter part of the chapter is not fit to be read aloud in a mixed assembly of men and women.
The verse stands in a portion of Proverbs full of splendid, practical counsel and faithful warnings. Following that counsel keeps people from destruction. It is part of deep instruction to be read slowly and thought over until it takes hold upon the human heart. It calls a son to give close attention to wisdom and to bow the ear to heed instruction and understanding.
That instruction directs him to choose the path of life. The chapter is to fill the young man's mind and train him to resist sexual temptation and the snares that foster and arouse sexual passion. With the rest of the chapter the verse warns both men and women against condemned sins. Rejecting such reproof and breaking God's spiritual laws brings spiritual disease and death. The latter part of the chapter is not fit to be read aloud in a mixed assembly of men and women.