Proverbs 5:7 Meaning and Explanation
“Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Repetition in teaching usually signals urgency. The father already asked for attention in verse 1, and six verses later he asks again, this time widening his address from one son to many children. Something about the ground he has just covered makes him stop and secure his hearers before going on. Noticing where a teacher pauses tells us what he considers most likely to be lost.
A teaching call breaks into the middle of the chapter. Having described the danger, the father asks for renewed attention and for steady adherence to what he has said, addressing a whole group of learners.
The Context of Proverbs 5:7
Proverbs 5 opens with a summons to attention in verses 1 and 2, then describes the strange woman in verses 3 through 6. Verse 7 begins a new movement with therefore, drawing a conclusion from that description. The plural address, O ye children, resembles the openings of Proverbs 4:1 and 7:24, where the same teaching voice gathers a wider audience. Verse 8 supplies the specific command that verse 7 prepares for, and verses 9 through 14 give the reasons. The section closes at verse 14 with the imagined regret of a man who ignored exactly this appeal.
What Does Proverbs 5:7 Mean?
Four small moves fill the line. Hear me now therefore ties what follows to what came before, since therefore makes the appeal a consequence of the description. O ye children opens the address outward, so the whole household of learners is included rather than a single son. Depart not from the words of my mouth asks for continuance instead of a first response, since a person can only depart from what he once held. The words of my mouth places the emphasis on specific spoken instruction, teaching that can be recalled and repeated. The father is asking for memory as much as agreement.
The placement of this appeal is deliberate. It stands between the portrait of the seductress and the command to keep away from her door, so instruction is what converts a warning into a decision. Verse 12 later imagines a man saying that he hated instruction and despised reproof, and verse 13 has him admitting that he did not obey the voice of his teachers. Verse 7 is the offer that the man in verse 13 declined. Israel's whole educational pattern ran along these lines, with fathers charged to teach the words diligently to their children, at home and on the road and morning and evening.
Jesus taught in this same register, ending the Sermon on the Mount by calling a man wise who hears his sayings and does them. He also spoke of continuing in his word as the mark of a real disciple, which is the same request the father makes here about departing. Scripture consistently treats hearing as the beginning of a long relationship with what has been said. Words that are received and then kept shape a life over decades. The appeal in this verse, small as it looks, describes the ordinary way God has chosen to form people through instruction that is remembered and held.
Proverbs 5:7 in the Original Language
banim (בָּנִים), 'children' -- the plural of the ordinary Hebrew word for son, used here for pupils under a teacher's care. The same term covers physical offspring and those receiving instruction, which is why the address widens naturally from one son to a room of learners.
Bible Verses Related to Proverbs 5:7
“Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.”
- Proverbs 7:24
“Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.”
- Proverbs 4:1
“And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!”
- Proverbs 5:13
“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
- Deuteronomy 6:7
Where Proverbs 5:7 Echoes in Scripture
Proverbs 7:24 repeats this appeal almost exactly, calling children to hearken and to attend to the words of my mouth, and it does so at the same structural point, right after a long portrait of the seductress. The two verses show a teacher with a settled method, describing the danger fully and then stopping to secure his hearers before issuing the command. Seeing the formula twice helps us hear it as deliberate rather than as filler between sections.
How to Apply Proverbs 5:7 Today
Two habits follow from a verse like this. The first is staying teachable in the seasons when we feel most competent, since departure usually begins with quiet confidence rather than open rebellion. The second is teaching plainly to those in our care, saying the actual words out loud instead of hoping they absorb our values by observation. Families and friendships both benefit from spoken instruction that can be repeated back. We might also revisit counsel we once received and set aside, asking whether we walked away from something we had no good reason to leave.
Reflection & Prayer
What good instruction have we drifted from without ever deciding to leave it? A prayer: Father, thank you for the people who told me the truth when I was young. Keep my ears open now that I think I know things, and hold me to the words I once received gladly. Make me a teacher whose voice is worth remembering.