Proverbs 4:21

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יַלִּ֥יזוּ

lûwz

H3868

“to depart”

Verb, Hiphil, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 6× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Proverbs 2:15

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1090

to depart, turn aside - (Qal) to depart - (Niphal) - to go wrong, go crooked - devious, perverse (participle) - (Hiphil) - to be lost from view - to become devious

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 יַלִּ֥יזוּ to depart H3868 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יַלִּ֥יזוּ to depart H3868 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
3 nouns
1 particle

Verb forms

יַלִּ֥יזוּ Hiphil · Jussive
שָׁ֝מְרֵ֗ם Qal · Imperative

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 12 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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Proverbs 4:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Proverbs 3:21 My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion:
Proverbs 3:3 Don't let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
Proverbs 7:1–2 My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.
Psalms 40:8 I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart."
Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you will receive my words, And store up my commandments within you;

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 4:21 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אַל יַלִּ֥יזוּ מֵעֵינֶ֑יךָ שָׁ֝מְרֵ֗ם בְּת֣וֹךְ לְבָבֶֽךָ

Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Proverbs 4:21 Septuagint · lemma form

ὅπως μή ἐκλείπω σύ ὁ πηγή σύ φυλάσσω αὐτός ἐν σός καρδία

that your fountains may not fail you; keep them in your heart.

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 4:21 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 4:21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

Ver. 21. Let them not depart.] {See Trapp on "Pro 3:21"}

In the midst of thy heart.] As in a safe repository, a ready repertory.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 21. Keep them in the midst of thine heart.] Let them be wrapped up in the very centre of thy affections; that they may give spring and energy to every desire, word, and wish.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Let them not depart from thine eyes,.... Commit them to writing, frequently read them over; let them be always in sight, as a rule and directory to steer the course of life by. Some understand this of the wicked, as if the sense was, let not them, the wicked, cause them to depart from thine eyes; nor thee to neglect them, by their bad advice, solicitations to sin, and ill examples; See Gill on Pro 3:21;

keep them in the midst of thine heart; lay them up there, and ponder them; often meditate upon them, and do not forget them; show the most affectionate regard unto them, and look upon them as a most inestimable treasure, for which no place is so fit a repository as the heart.

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

Heartily love them, and stedfastly retain them,

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

21. In the midst of thine heart — In the very centre of thy affections or mind.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Let them not depart from thine eyes; i.e. keep them constantly in view as the guide of the whole conduct. These words are a repetition of Pro_3:21, just as the latter part of the verse reproduces the thought of Pro_2:1. Depart. The hiph. yallizu is here used instead of the kal yaluzu of Pro_3:21, but has the same force. In the midst of thine heart; i.e. in its inmost recesses; there the words and sayings are to be guarded as a man guards a treasure stowed away in the inmost chambers of a house. The expression implies cherishing them with an internal affection. The terms of the verse may be illustrated by Deu_6:6, Deu_6:8, "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontiers between thine eyes."

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 lûwz (“to depart”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word lûwz carries the sense “to depart.” How does it shape the verse?
Proverbs 2:15 shares the word «to depart» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «יַלִּ֥יזוּ» is Hiphil Jussive. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 1 word in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.