Passage

Proverbs 4.23

Book: Proverbs · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"21. Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thy heart. 22. For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh."

"23. Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life."

"24. Put away from thee a wayward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. 25. Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee." (Proverbs 4:21-25, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"21. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart. 22. For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body."

"23. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life."

"24. Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you. 25. Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you." (Proverbs 4:21-25, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"21. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. ^{health: Heb. medicine}"

"23. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. ^{with: Heb. above all keeping}"

"24. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. ^{a froward: Heb. frowardness of mouth and perverseness of lips} 25. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee." (Proverbs 4:21-25, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"21. Let them not turn aside from thine eyes, Preserve them in the midst of thy heart. 22. For life they [are] to those finding them, And to all their flesh healing."

"23. Above every charge keep thy heart, For out of it [are] the outgoings of life."

"24. Turn aside from thee a froward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee, 25. Thine eyes do look straightforward, And thine eyelids look straight before thee." (Proverbs 4:21-25, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.