Proverbs 7:2

Keep my commands ¹  so that you may live, ²  and obey ³  my instruction as your most prized possession. ⁴ 

Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching as the apple of your eye.

Obey them and live! Guard my teachings as your most precious possession.

Do what I say and you'll live well. My teaching is as precious as your eyesight--guard it!

Keep my rules and you will have life; let my teaching be to you as the light of your eyes;

keep my commandments and live, keep my teachings as the apple of your eye;

Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye.

Keep my commands ¹  so that you may live, ²  and obey ³  my instruction as your most prized possession. ⁴ 

¹ tc Before v. 2 the LXX inserts: “My son, fear the Lord and you will be strong, and besides him, fear no other.” Although this addition has the precedent of 3:7 and 9 and harmonizes with 14:26, it does not fit here; the advice is to listen to the teacher.

² tn The construction of an imperative with the vav (ו) of sequence after another imperative denotes a logical sequence of purpose or result: “that you may live,” or “and you will live.”

³ tn The term “obey” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied for the sake of clarity and smoothness. Some English versions, in light of the second line of v. 1, supply “guard” (e.g., NIV, NCV, NLT).

⁴ tn Heb “the little man in your eye.” Traditionally this Hebrew idiom is translated into English as “the apple of your eye” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); a more contemporary rendering would be “as your most prized possession.” The word for “man” has the diminutive ending on it. It refers to the pupil, where the object focused on – a man – is reflected in miniature. The point is that the teaching must be the central focus of the disciple’s vision and attention.