A Guarded Heart

מִֽכָּל־מִ֭שְׁמָר נְצֹ֣ר לִבֶּ֑ךָ

    כִּֽי־מִ֝מֶּ֗נּוּ תֹּוצְאֹ֥ות חַיִּֽים׃

Above all what you need to guard, guard your heart

                                              Because from it springs the streams of life [ my translation of Proverbs 4:23.]

This proverb is one of the most important sayings in the book of Proverbs because it presents a central truth of the Christian faith. A truth that directly shapes the life & worldview of a believer. The heart in ancient Hebrew literature represents the most inner-being of a person. It is synonymous with ‘soul’ or ‘mind.’ Therefore, it is so important to guard.

The priority of guarding the heart is apparent in the word order [original Hebrew structure] of the proverb, which opens with a prepositional phrase, מִֽכָּל־מִ֭שְׁמָר  literally rendered “above all confinement/guard.” Followed by the imperative נְצֹ֣ר “guard.” The prepositional phrase adds urgency to the imperative. Some English translations tried to convey this urgency by injecting an additional phrase to the imperative. Such as “with all diligence” [NASB] and “with all vigilance” [ESV]. However, the translators of the NIV were closer to the original Hebrew as they rendered the first line, “Above all else, guard your heart.”

 In my translation above, I tried to keep the sense of the original and the immediate context in the following few lines (In vv. 24, 25, we realize that there are other essential things that the writer of Proverbs urges his readers to guard.). The second line is a causal כִּֽי clause to explain the cause of the priority of safeguarding the heart in the first line, namely because the orientation of a person’s life is determined by the thoughts and desires that flow from the inner being. An unguarded heart can lead to foolishness and destruction, while a guarded heart is vital to true wisdom. ­­

References:

O’Dowd, Ryan. Proverbs. The Story of God Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017

Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. A Handbook on Proverbs. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies, 2000.

Williams, Ronald J., and John C. Beckman. Williams’ Hebrew Syntax. 3rd ed. The University of Toronto Press, 2007.