Proverbs 4 | Keep Your Heart with All Diligence

📜 In this prophetic blues celebration, we bring Proverbs 4 to life word-for-word from the World English Bible. Proverbs 4 stands as a timeless father’s charge to his children — a heartfelt plea to seek wisdom above all else, to reject the path of the wicked, and to guard the heart as the very wellspring of life.
Historical & Scriptural Background

The Book of Proverbs, traditionally attributed to King Solomon, was written in the golden age of Israel’s united monarchy — a time when the nation was at peace, and the king had the opportunity to teach through reflection rather than battle. Proverbs 4 is framed as a father speaking to his son, passing down not only his own wisdom but also the wisdom he received from his father, King David.

This chapter is unique because it reveals a generational chain of wisdom: David instructs Solomon, who in turn instructs the next generation. It emphasizes that wisdom is not merely intellectual knowledge but a life-preserving relationship with God’s truth. In ancient Hebrew culture, “wisdom” (חָכְמָה — chokmah) was more than cleverness — it meant skill in living rightly before the Lord.

The famous line in verse 23 — "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life" — has been cherished across centuries as a central truth for spiritual living. The Hebrew concept of the “heart” (lev) refers not just to emotions, but the seat of will, thought, and moral choice. Guarding it meant aligning every part of oneself with God’s ways.
Prophetic Meaning for Today

Proverbs 4 is more than ancient advice — it’s a spiritual road map. In a world filled with distraction, compromise, and counterfeit wisdom, it calls believers back to the straight and shining path of righteousness. Its imagery of the righteous path “shining brighter until the perfect day” echoes the prophetic hope of the Messiah’s reign, when the light of God will fill the earth (Isaiah 60:1–3).

In this song, the timeless words are given a blues-tinged celebration setting — a reminder that God’s wisdom is not dry or dusty, but alive, powerful, and worthy of joyful proclamation.

Original Scripture and Lyrics: Proverbs 4(WEB)
"Keep Your Heart with All Diligence"
(Yeah Get Ready!)

[Verse 1]
Listen sons to a father’s instruction
Pay attention and know understanding
For I give you sound learning don’t forsake my law
For I was a son to my father tender
An only child in the sight of my mother

[Verse 2]
He taught me and said to me
Let your heart retain my words
Keep my commandments and live
Get wisdom get understanding
Don’t forget and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth

[Verse 3]
Don’t forsake her and she will preserve you
Love her and she will keep you
Wisdom is supreme get wisdom
Yes, though it costs all your possessions
Get understanding get understanding

[Verse 4]
Esteem her and she will exalt you
She will bring you to honor when you embrace her
She will give to your head a garland of grace
She will deliver a crown of splendor to you

[Verse 5]
Listen my son and receive my sayings
The years of your life will be many
I have taught you in the way of wisdom
I have led you in straight paths

[Verse 6]
When you go your steps will not be hampered
When you run you will not stumble
Take firm hold of instruction
Don’t let her go keep her
For she is your life

[Verse 7]
Don’t enter into the path of the wicked
Don’t walk in the way of evil men
Avoid it and don’t pass by it
Turn from it and pass on

[Verse 8]
For they don’t sleep unless they do evil
Their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall
For they eat the bread of wickedness
And drink the wine of violence

[Verse 9]
But the path of the righteous
Is like the dawning light
That shines more and more
Until the perfect day

[Verse 10]
The way of the wicked is like darkness
They don’t know what they stumble over

[Verse 11]
My son attend to my words
Turn your ear to my sayings
Let them not depart from your eyes
Keep them in the center of your heart

[Verse 12]
For they are life to those who find them
And health to their whole body

[Verse 13]
Keep your heart with all diligence
For out of it is the wellspring of life
Put away from yourself a perverse mouth
Put corrupt lips far from you

[Verse 14]
Let your eyes look straight ahead
Fix your gaze directly before you
Make the path of your feet level
Let all of your ways be established
Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left
Remove your foot from evil

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