Proverbs 4:23

with all diligence Lit. above all keepings, that is bestowed on aught beside. πάσῃ φυλακῇ, LXX. Omni custodia, Vulg. Others, with R.V. marg., above all that thou guardest; "præ omnibus rebus custodiendis," Maurer.

"It is very strange that Judaism should ever have sunk into a formal religion of outward observance, when its own wisdom was so explicit on this point … -Keep them in the midst of thy heart … Keep thy heartwith all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." The Greek version, which was very generally used in our Lord's time, had a beautiful variation of this last clause. [It is really of Proverbs 4:21, where by a slight change in the Heb. punctuation they read -fountains" for -eyes"]: -In order that thy fountains may not fail thee, guard them in the heart" [ὅπως μὴ ἐκλίπωσί σε αἱ πηγαί σου, φύλασσε αὐτὰς ἐν καρδίᾳ, Proverbs 4:21, LXX.]. It was after all but a new emphasis on the old teaching of the Book of Proverbs, when Jesus taught the necessity of heart purity, and when He shewed that out of the heart came forth evil thoughts and all the things which defile a man (Matthew 15:19)." Horton.