Proverbs 4:11

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יֹֽשֶׁר

yôsher

H3476

“uprightness”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 14× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Deuteronomy 9:5

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H3474

TWOT: 930b

straightness, uprightness - straightness, evenness (moral implications) - rightness, uprightness - what is right, what is due

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is יֹֽשֶׁר uprightness H3476 — appearing just 14 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יֹֽשֶׁר uprightness H3476 occurs in 14 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
4 nouns

Verb forms

הֹרֵתִ֑יךָ Hiphil · Perfect
הִ֝דְרַכְתִּ֗יךָ Hiphil · Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 16 words from the Hebrew and 17 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 6 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Proverbs 4:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 25:4–5 Show me your ways, Yahweh. Teach me your paths.
Ecclesiastes 12:9 Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
Proverbs 8:9 They are all plain to him who understands, Right to those who find knowledge.
1 Samuel 12:23–24 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
Psalms 23:3 He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Proverbs 8:6 Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.
Deuteronomy 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land where you go in to possess it.
Proverbs 4:4 He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

Proverbs 8:20 I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice;
Acts 13:10 and said, "Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Proverbs 4:11 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ חָ֭כְמָה הֹרֵתִ֑יךָ הִ֝דְרַכְתִּ֗יךָ בְּמַעְגְּלֵי יֹֽשֶׁר

I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Proverbs 4:11 Septuagint · lemma form

ὁδός γάρ σοφία διδάσκω σύ ἐνβιβάζω δέ σύ τροχιός ὀρθός

For I teach you the ways of wisdom; and I cause you to go in right paths.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Proverbs 4:11 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Pro 4:11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.

Ver. 11. I have led thee in right paths.] Impli ambulant in circuitu, The wicked walk the round. So doth the devil, that great peripatetic. {Job 1:6-12} "How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?" {Jer 31:22} "How long wilt thou run retrograde, or turn aside unto crooked ways?" {Psa 125:5} "The ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein." {Hos 14:9}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

4:11-12 Wisdom’s . . . paths are straight (nondeceptive), while those of a fool are crooked (2:15). • When you walk . . . run: The wise reach their goals more quickly and efficiently.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Solomon declareth what care his father had to bring him up in the true fear of God: for this was David’s protestation.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

way of wisdom--which it prescribes.

led thee--literally, "caused thee to tread," as a path (Psa 107:7).

not be straitened--have ample room (Psa 18:36).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

Eighth Address. Chap. Pro_4:10-19

11. right paths] Rather, paths of uprightness, R.V., as at once being a more exact rendering and preserving better the parallelism.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

I have taught thee in the way of wisdom,.... In the way that leads to it, or is concerning it; in the Gospel, which is the wisdom of God in a mystery, the manifold wisdom of God, and which directs to Christ and the knowledge of him, who is true wisdom; this is another reason or argument why the wise man's instructions should be attended to;

I have led thee in right paths; in paths of righteousness, holiness, and truth; in such as are agreeable to the will and word of God, and which lead right on to the city of habitation; and therefore such teachings and leadings should be followed, and such ways walked in.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

In the way of wisdom; either

1. Which procureth wisdom. Or,

2. Which wisdom directeth thee to walk in.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

The perfects, I have taught and I have led, in the original seem to have here the absolute signification of the past. The father recalls the instruction which he has given in times past. So Delitzsch. But Gejerus gives them the combined force of the past and future, "I have taught and I will more fully teach," and so with the other verb. The Vulgate renders, monstrabo, "I will show," and ducam, I will lead." In the way of wisdom ( b"derek khok"mah) may mean "in the way that leads to, or by which you come to Wisdom; I have taught you the manner in which Wisdom may be attained;" or "the way in which Wisdom walks" (Zockler). The ways of Wisdom are described in Pro_3:17 as ways of pleasantness." The next clause seems to indicate that the latter explanation is to be preferred. The (b) indicates the subject in which instruction has been given. In right paths (b"ma"g"le yosher ); literally, in the paths of rectitude; i.e. of straightness, paths of which the characteristic is uprightness. (On "paths," as signifying a carriageway, see Pro_2:9) Instruction and direction have formed the two elements in the father"s teaching. These present us with a model of education. "To teach duty without truth is to teach practice without motive; to teach truth without duty is to teach motive without the practice to which it should lead" (Wardlaw).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Proverbs, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is yôsher (“uprightness”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word yôsher carries the sense “uprightness.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Deuteronomy 9:5, which shares the word «uprightness», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«הֹרֵתִ֑יךָ» is a Hiphil Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.