Proverbs 4:23

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. KEEP THY HEART WITH ALL [ mikaal (H3605 )] DILIGENCE. The Hebrew for "with" is so translated, as in the English version, by the Septuagint, Vulgate, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Syriac. It is translated by Bayne, Gejer, Piscator, and Maurer in a common sense of the Hebrew (cf. margin), 'More than all things else requiring to be kept diligently,' such as one's treasures, house, or body, we ought to keep the heart, that it be not tainted with error, or sink into vice; because it is prone to evil, and beset with adversaries on all sides. Mercer, and seemingly the Chaldaic, take it, 'from all that is to be guarded against.' But the Hebrew min occasionally means by or with (cf. Job...

14-27 The way of evil men may seem pleasant, and the nearest way to compass some end; but it is an evil way, and will end ill; if thou love thy God and thy soul, avoid it. It is not said, Keep at a due distance, but at a great distance; never think you can get far enough from it. The way of the righteous is light; Christ is their Way, and he is the Light. The saints will not be perfect till they reach heaven, but there they shall shine as the sun in his strength. The way of sin is as darkness. The way of the wicked is dark, therefore dangerous; they fall into sin, but know not how to avoid it. They fall into trouble, but never seek to know wherefore God contends with them, nor what will be in the end of it. This is the way we are bid to shun. Attentive hearing the word of God, is a good sign of a work of grace begun in the heart, and a good means of carrying it on. There is in the word...

Verse Proverbs 4:23. _KEEP THY HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE_] "Above all keeping," guard thy heart. He who knows any thing of himself, knows how apt his affections are to go astray. _FOR OUT OF IT_ ARE _THE ISSUES OF LIFE._] תוצאות חיים _totseoth_ _chaiyim_, "the goings out of lives." Is not this a plain allusion to the _arteries_ which carry the blood from the heart through the whole body, and to the utmost extremities? As long as the heart is capable of receiving and propelling the blood, so long _life_ is continued. Now as the heart is the fountain whence all the streams of life proceed, care must be taken that the fountain be not stopped up nor injured. A double watch for its safety must be kept up. So in spiritual things: the heart is the seat of the Lord of life and glory; and the streams of spiritual life proceed f

Better, as in the margin, i. e., with more vigilance than men use over anything else. The words that follow carry on the same similitude. The fountains and wells of the East were watched over with special care. The heart is such a fountain, out of it flow the “issues” of life. Shall men let those streams be tainted at the fountain-head?...

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 4:1 7. _Seventh admonitory discourse. _We here enter upon the second group of admonitory discourses, as is indicated by the opening address, "my children," and which occurs again in Proverbs 5:7 and Proverbs 7:24. This group extends to the end of Proverbs 7:1. Its prevailing tone is that of warning rather than of positive exhortations, which have been the rule hitherto. The general aim of the discourse before us, as of those preceding, is to exalt Wisdom, to exhibit her as a subject worthy of all earnest endeavour and sacrifice, but it is noticeable that the teacher introd

KEEP THY HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE,.... The mind from vanity, the understanding from error, the will from perverseness, the conscience clear of guilt, the affections from being inordinate and set on evil objects, the thoughts from being employed on bad subjects; and the whole from falling into the hands of the enemy, or being the possession of Satan: great diligence had need be used in keeping it, since it is naturally so deceitful and treacherous; a strict eye is to be kept upon it; all the avenues to it to be watched, that nothing hurtful enters, or evil comes out; it is to be kept by all manner of means that can be thought of, by prayer, hearing, reading, meditation; and, above all, by applying to Christ for his grace and Spirit to sanctify, preserve, and keep it. Or, "above all keeping, keep thine heart" b; though other things are to be kept, and care taken of them, as kingdoms and ci...

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Solomon's training (Proverbs 4:1)_ 2. Hear, O my son: Receive my sayings (Proverbs 4:10) 3. My son, attend to my words. (Proverbs 4:20) Proverbs 4:1. This passage shows the early training which Solomon received and he passeth on the instructions. It is said that these verses formed a model for many Puritan homes in England and the Scotland of the covenant. He was the beloved one, his father's true son. Note the different exhortation, about wisdom: Forget it not; forsake her not; love her; exalt her. Then the promises: She shall preserve thee; she shall keep thee; she shall promote thee

KEEP... WITH ALL DILIGENCE. Above all that must be guarded. The preposition. (hebrew character) marks the place or person that keeps: the meaning being, guard the heart as the great citadel, for out of it are the source and outgoings of life. Same word as in verses: Proverbs 6:13. Not the same word as in verses: Proverbs 4:21. FROWARD. See notes on Proverbs 2:12 and Proverbs 6:12, the only other examples of frowardness of mouth. (23-27) Note the _Alternation_ in these verses. Positive. Heart. Negative. Mouth. Positive. Eyes. 27. Negative. Feet....

_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 heart_with 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,...

DISCOURSE: 764 KEEPING THE HEART Proverbs 4:23. _Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life_. IT is certainly of infinite importance that we be deeply convinced of our utter inability to do any thing that is good, and of our entire dependence upon God for the effectual aids of his Holy Spirit. But we must not imagine, that, because we have no sufficiency of ourselves to do the will of God, we are not bound in duty to do it, or not to be exhorted and stimulated to the performance of it. Our duty is the same, whatever be the circumstances to which we have reduced ourselves; and it is _in_, and _by_, our personal exertions, that God has promised to “work all our works in us.” Hence, in the Scriptures of Truth, we are continually exhorted to serve our God in the way of his commandments. It is obvious that we cannot preserve the life of