What Does Proverbs 4:2 Mean?
For I give you good to take; do not let go of my instruction.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.THE KEY
The verse links instruction to reception: what is given can be taken in, kept, and followed as direction.
THE MEANING
Good instruction reaches you as a gift, meant to remain available as direction for your life. You can receive it and carry it with you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that teaching is only a burden imposed from outside; this verse presents good instruction as a gift to receive and retain.
THE ROOT
לֶקַח
leqaḥ
GROWS FROM
ל־ק־ח
l-q-ḥ
To take, receive, or grasp.
“good to take” in this verse is leqaḥ. The word rendered “doctrine” is leqaḥ, instruction named through the root “take, receive.” The verse holds its movements together: instruction is given, received, and not abandoned.
ALSO GROWS
lāqaḥ: To take, receive, or accept.
לָקַח
This verb shows the concrete action carried by the root: instruction can be taken in.
leqaḥ: Instruction, teaching, or learning.
לֶקַח
This noun names what is received, joining the verse’s “good doctrine” to the act of taking it in.
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
י־ר־ה
y-r-h
To point or direct; by extension, to teach or instruct.
Torah means instruction, from a root that carries the sense of pointing, directing, and teaching. What the verse says not to forsake is guidance that keeps showing the way.
ALSO GROWS
yārāh: To cast, shoot, point, direct, or teach.
יָרָה
Its range joins pointing a direction with imparting instruction.
mōreh: A teacher or instructor.
מוֹרֶה
The teacher is one who gives direction, echoing Torah as instruction that points a way.
THE PATTERN
Good instruction is given to be received within and kept as guidance for the way.
And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart.Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.Therefore, taking off all dirt and the overflow of wickedness, in gentleness take in the planted word, which is able to deliver your living souls.THE THREAD
My son, do not let my instruction slip from you, and let your heart guard my commands.The same word, Torah, appears here as “law,” connecting this verse’s instruction with what the heart can keep. The thread links “forsake not” with keeping the teaching close within.
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