What Does Proverbs 5:13 Mean?
And I have not heard and responded to the voice of my teachers, and I have not bent my ear to those who instructed me.
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
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!THE KEY
The refusal begins before a word is rejected: the ear never turns toward the voice.
THE MEANING
This verse names a present fracture: a voice meant to teach reaches you, but the ear is not turned toward it. The break begins in attention, before it becomes a visible refusal. What remains unheard is not just information, but instruction that could shape the way forward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that disobedience begins only with an outward act; here, the break starts when the ear turns away.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַעְתִּי
shamaʿti
GROWS FROM
שמע
shamaʿ
Hear, listen; when response is implied, heed or answer.
“heard and responded” in this verse is shamaʿti. The word rendered “obeyed” is built from hearing: שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear/listen), here as שָׁמַעְתִּי (shamaʿti, I heard/responded). Listening and response belong to one movement, so the verse describes more than missing a sound: the voice does not become something answered.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿah: A report or message that is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The message arrives at the same point where this verse names a failure to hear and respond.
shomeaʿ: A hearer or listener.
שֹׁמֵעַ
The root places the listener inside the action: hearing is the beginning of a response.
הִטֵּיתִי
hittiti
GROWS FROM
נטה
natah
Bend, extend, turn aside, or incline.
“bent my ear” in this verse is hittiti. The ear is pictured as something that can be turned or extended, not merely as a passive receiver. The same root describes stretching out a tent, giving the act of attending the sense of deliberate orientation.
ALSO GROWS
netiyyah: An inclination, turn, or deviation.
נְטִיָּה
The verse presents the ear’s direction as the decisive point where hearing can begin or be withheld.
natah ohel: Stretch out or pitch a tent.
נָטָה אֹהֶל
This branch carries the sense of extending something into a chosen direction, as the ear is turned toward or away from a voice.
לִמְלַמְּדַי
limlammedai
GROWS FROM
למד
lamad
Learn, teach, or train.
“instructed” in this verse is limlammedai. The word for those instructing the speaker comes from the same root as learning. The root holds teacher and learner within one active process, showing that instruction is meant to be received and learned, not merely spoken.
ALSO GROWS
talmid: A learner or disciple.
תַּלְמִיד
The teacher’s role is joined to the learner’s through the same root of learning.
limmud: Someone taught or trained.
לִמּוּד
This branch shows instruction as something that takes shape in the person receiving it.
THE PATTERN
Instruction bears its fruit when the ear turns toward it and hearing becomes response.
My son, give ear to my words; bend your ear to my sayings.Bend your ear and come to me. Hear and respond, and your living soul shall live. I will cut a covenant of the ages with you, the steady faithful loves of David.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Bend your ear and come to me. Hear and respond, and your living soul shall live. I will cut a covenant of the ages with you, the steady faithful loves of David.Isaiah uses the same roots for “incline” (נטה, natah, turn or extend) and “hear” (שמע, shamaʿ, hear and respond). Proverbs names the ear turned away; Isaiah joins that same turning and hearing to the soul’s life.
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