Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Proverbs 4:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse uses two-part parallelism to place “My son, attend to my words” beside “incline thine ear unto my sayings”.
Read It With
- Proverbs 4:20–27
Follow Proverbs 4:20–27, not verse 4:20 alone. This line uses two-part parallelism to place “My son, attend to my words” beside “incline thine ear unto my sayings”, while the complete unit distinguishes a normal moral direction from a guaranteed outcome.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Proverbs 4:20 appears here because it uses two-part parallelism to place “My son, attend to my words” beside “incline thine ear unto my sayings”. Its contrast, image, or consequence tests the concerns gathered in Proverbs 4:20–27.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings”
In plain language: speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence
This verse uses two-part parallelism to place “My son, attend to my words” beside “incline thine ear unto my sayings”.
Why it matters: This wording gives the verse its distinct role inside the cluster.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. In Proverbs 4:20, that bounded truth is expressed through “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings,” not through a promise detached from its literary form.
How It Can Shape Life
- Pause, verify, listen, and choose truthful speech fitted to the hearer, timing, risk, and public consequences. For Proverbs 4:20, preserve the sequence: verse role (uses two-part parallelism to place “My son, attend to my words” beside “incline thine ear unto my sayings”) -> contextual meaning in Proverbs 4:20–27 -> proportionate truth -> this accountable response.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Proverbs 4:20–27 — Guard heart, speech, sight, and feetSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
The verse belongs to a larger speech, instruction, prayer, number saying, or poem; its voice and complete literary movement control how strongly an isolated line may be stated.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: Proverbs 4:20–27, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Proverbs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 4:20-4:27
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Proverbs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
Exact location: NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1088-1090, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 4:20–27
Open source ↗