4:23

This verse consists of a command followed by a reason for obeying that command.

23a Guard your heart with all diligence,

23b for from it flow springs of life.

4:23a

Guard your heart with all diligence: This clause is an idiom. It means “Guard your heart more than anything else” or “Guard your heart with all vigilance.” English versions translate this idiom in several ways. For example:

Guard your heart more than anything you treasure (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Carefully guard your thoughts (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Be careful how you think (Good News Translation)

Guard your heart: This command implies “protect or keep your mind ⌊from evil⌋ .” A person who protects his mind restrains himself from thinking or expressing wrong thoughts. For the word heart, see the note on 4:4a.

4:23b

from it flow springs of life: In Hebrew, the term the Berean Standard Bible translates as springs is literally “the outgoings.” It means that the mind is a source of life, possibly in the sense that a person’s mind determines the course of his life. Other ways to translate this idea are:

your life is shaped by your thoughts (Good News Translation)
-or-
your thoughts run your life (New Century Version)
-or-
your heart…affects everything you do (New Living Translation (1996))

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