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Proverbs 6:20 · World English Bible

Proverbs 6:20 Meaning My Son

My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.

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What does Proverbs 6:20 mean?

Two inner voices are being handed on here, and the counsel is to keep hold of the one that heals. Beneath the family words lies the mind's true parentage: a source of strength that gives clear direction, and a source of gentleness that tends and shelters what is young in us.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 6:20 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

Two inner voices are being handed on here, and the counsel is to keep hold of the one that heals. Beneath the family words lies the mind's true parentage: a source of strength that gives clear direction, and a source of gentleness that tends and shelters what is young in us.

The child in this reading is the part of the mind still learning which teacher to trust. What is asked is simple loyalty to love in both its firm and its tender form, holding to guidance that has only ever wished the learner well rather than drifting to the ego's noisier instruction.

Son: the part of the mind still being taught, the learner deciding which inner voice to trust Father's commandment: the inner voice of strength and clear direction, love teaching in its firm form Mother's law: the inner voice of gentleness and shelter, love teaching in its tender form, guarding what is young in the mind

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 6:20 today

  1. When your mind starts its usual lecture about where you have fallen short, ask whether that voice has ever actually helped you. Listen instead for the one that is both honest and on your side.
  2. With someone you are correcting today, a child, a teammate, a friend, say the firm thing and the kind thing in the same breath. Both belong, and leaving either out distorts it.
  3. In a tense moment at work, pause before you follow the advice that arrives fastest. The counsel that wants your good is usually quieter than the one that wants you to win.

Which inner voice have I been treating as the authority, and does it wish me well?

The same truth in other traditions

Tao Te Ching

The Tao both begets and nourishes: it gives direction with one hand and shelter with the other. Wisdom is staying close to both, not choosing one.

Buddhism

True practice joins wisdom with compassion, the clear seeing that cuts through confusion and the warmth that holds what is still fragile. Either one alone goes wrong.

Confucius · Analects

Learning means holding onto the teacher whose words have served you well, rather than chasing whatever voice is loudest in the room.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

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