Proverbs 6:20 tells a young person to keep the instruction of their father and not to abandon the teaching of their mother. In plain terms, it asks a child to take their parents’ guidance seriously and hold onto it rather than walking away from it. The words come from a father speaking to his son in the opening chapters of the book of Proverbs, a collection of wise sayings meant to shape the character of the next generation.
My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
Proverbs 6:20 (WEB)
What Proverbs 6:20 Means
The verse begins with “My son,” a warm and personal address that sets the tone for everything that follows. The writer is not issuing a cold rule but speaking as a parent who cares about how his child turns out. The word “commandment” refers to clear, practical instruction about how to live, the kind of direction a parent gives about honesty, self-control, and respect for others.
The second half of the verse pairs the father with the mother. Her “teaching” is the same kind of wisdom, passed on in a different voice. The verse does not say parents are always right in every detail, but it does ask a young person not to treat their upbringing as worthless. It promises that wisdom handed down through family tends to protect a life, though it does not guarantee that every choice will turn out well.
What the verse does not do is claim that obedience to parents automatically earns God’s favor or erases every hard consequence. It describes a pattern of wise living. Read alongside the rest of Proverbs, it points to a way of life that listens, learns, and stays close to what has been taught.
The Context of Proverbs 6:20
The book of Proverbs is traditionally associated with Solomon, and it is written largely as a series of instructions from a parent to a child. The opening chapters repeatedly use the phrase “my son” to frame wisdom as something received within a family and a community. The audience is the young person who must choose between the path of wisdom and the path of folly.
The verses immediately around Proverbs 6:20 list behaviors the writer warns against, including lying, stirring up conflict, and plotting harm. Verse 20 stands as the hinge between that warning and the encouragement that follows, which speaks of the commandment as a lamp and light. Read in this setting, the call to keep a parent’s teaching is a call to guard yourself against exactly those destructive patterns.
Key Phrases in Proverbs 6:20
Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
(WEB)
Paul echoes the call for children to obey their parents, presenting it as something that honors God. Read beside Proverbs 6:20, it shows how the New Testament carries the same respect for family teaching forward into Christian life.
Proverbs 1:8
My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching…
(WEB)
This verse opens the book with the same pairing of father and mother, establishing the family as a primary school of wisdom. It gives the wider framework within which the instruction of Proverbs 6:20 makes sense.
A Short Prayer From Proverbs 6:20
Lord, thank you for the parents and teachers who shaped my understanding of right and wrong. Some of their words I did not appreciate at the time, and some I may still be tempted to push aside. Help me to keep their guidance close, to weigh it honestly, and to return to it when I am tempted to walk away. Give me a humble heart that listens well and a mind that remembers what was good. Guide my steps by the wisdom you have placed in the people around me. Amen.