Proverbs 4:20

My child, pay attention to my words; listen attentively ¹  to my sayings.

Ps 78:1; Ps 90:12; Pr 5:1; Pr 6:20,21; Pr 7:1; Isa 55:3; Mt 17:5

¹ tn Heb “incline your ear.” The verb הַט (hat) is the Hiphil imperative from נָטָה (natah, Hiphil: “to turn to; to incline”). The idiom “to incline the ear” gives the picture of “lean over and listen closely.”

sn Commentators note the use of the body in this section: ear (v. 20), eyes (v. 21), flesh (v. 22), heart (v. 23), lips (v. 24), eyes (v. 25), feet (v. 26), and hands and feet (v. 27). Each is a synecdoche of part representing the whole; the total accumulation signifies the complete person in the process.