Proverbs 4:23

Guard your heart with all vigilance, ¹  for from it are the sources ²  of life.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.

Keep vigilant watch over your heart; [that's] where life starts.

And keep watch over your heart with all care; so you will have life.

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Guard your heart with all vigilance, ¹  for from it are the sources ²  of life.

¹ tn Heb “more than all guarding.” This idiom means “with all vigilance.” The construction uses the preposition מִן (min) to express “above; beyond,” the word “all” and the noun “prison; guard; act of guarding.” The latter is the use here (BDB 1038 s.v. מִשְׁמָר).

² sn The word תּוֹצְאוֹת (tots’ot, from יָצָא, yatsa’) means “outgoings; extremities; sources.” It is used here for starting points, like a fountainhead, and so the translation “sources” works well.