בְּ֭נִי תּוֹרָתִ֣י אַל־תִּשְׁכָּ֑ח וּ֝מִצְוֺתַ֗י יִצֹּ֥ר לִבֶּֽךָ׃
Proverbs 3
Admonition to Trust and Honor God
1My child, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments,
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
See also remember and forget (Japanese honorifics).
“My son, do not forget my teaching”: As in chapter 2 the teacher of wisdom is speaking to the learner. For “My son” see 1.8. “Do not forget” is a negative way of saying “Remember!” What is to be remembered is the content of the instruction: “Do not forget all that I have taught you.” “Teaching” renders the Hebrew word torah, as used in 1.8 where the learner was advised not to forsake his mother’s “teaching.” The term should not be translated as “law” in these contexts, even though the law lies behind and supports the teaching given by the wise ones.
“But let your heart keep my commandments”: “Heart”, as in 2.2 and 2.10, refers to the mind. “My commandments” was used in 2.1 to refer to the instruction given by the teacher of wisdom. The two lines of this verse are parallel, with the same meaning expressed in a negative way in the first line and then in a positive way in the second line. “Keep” is equivalent to “do not forget”, that is, it means “remember.” The Hebrew term basically means “guard” or “preserve.” Good News Translation has “remember,” Revised English Bible “treasure.” In other parts of the Old Testament to “keep . . . commandments” (in mind) often has the sense of “practice,” “obey,” “put [them] to use,” and some take that to be the meaning here also (“and obey them”, Contemporary English Version).
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 3:1:
The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Yucateco as “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198), and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
McKnight’s English translation (publ. 2023) has it as Covenant Code. He explains (p. 301): “The law of Moses was a covenantal arrangement by God with the people of Israel. This code of conduct expected of them was not the same as law in the Roman world or what law means to us today. It is a revelation of God’s will for God’s covenant people but requires ongoing interpretation and adjustments.”
In a 1922 translation into Chagatai, a precursor language of both Uzbek and Uighur, it is translated with the Arabic loan word shari’at (شريعت), originally meaning “(Islamic) law (Shari’a).” (Source: F. Erbay and F.N. Küçükballı in Acta Theologica 2025 45/2, p. 133ff. )
Section 3:1–12
Third lesson: Humbly trust in the LORD
This lesson consists of a series of commands. Each set of parallel commands is followed by a promised result, except for 3:12, which gives a reason for the command.
Another heading for this section is:
Trusting in the Lord (New Living Translation (2004))
Paragraph 3:1–4
3:1
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
1a My son, do not forget my teaching,
1b but let your heart keep my commandments;
3:1a–b
do not forget…let your heart keep: These commands are negative and positive ways to say the same thing—the son should remember and heed the instructions of the father. The author used negative and positive commands in this way to add emphasis.
3:1a
My son: This same phrase occurs in 1:8a.
do not forget my teaching: The clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as do not forget my teaching is a command to not intentionally forget, ignore, or reject the father’s teaching. This is the same Hebrew verb as used in 2:17b. See the note there. Other ways to translate this command are:
don’t forget what I teach you (Good News Translation)
-or-
do not turn away from my teaching
3:1b
let your heart keep my commandments: In Hebrew, this command indicates that the son should remember his father’s commandments. It also implies that the son should pay attention to these commandments and obey them. Other ways to translate this command are:
Always remember what I tell you to do. (Good News Translation)
-or-
keep my commands in mind (God’s Word)
See the note on “my commands” in 2:1b.
your heart: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as heart refers here mainly to a person’s thoughts. In your language it may be necessary to use a different expression, such as “mind” or “thoughts” or “liver,” to refer to thinking or remembering.
General Comment on 3:1a–b
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel terms “teaching” and “commandments.” For example:
1a My child, remember my teachings and instructions
1b and obey them completely. (Contemporary English Version)
In some languages, it may be more natural to give the positive command before the negative command. For example:
1a My child, always remember and obey my teachings and commands.
1b Do not ignore them.
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