Proverbs 23:26 - Exposition

Give me thine heart. Do not waste thy powers and affections on evil objects, but set thy soul with all its best faculties on me, Wisdom, who alone can satisfy its desires and aspirations. There is an eloquent passage in a tract that has gone by St. Bernard's name, though not written by him, which is worth quoting: " Cor nostrum nihil dignius perficere potest, quam ut ei se restituat a quo factum est: et hoc a nobis Dominus expetit dicens, 'Fili, da mihi cor tuum.' Tunc siquidem cor hominum Deo datur, quando omnia cogitatio terminatur in eum, gyrat et circumflectitur super eum, et nihil vult possidere praeter eum. Sicque colligato sibi animo, eum diligit, ut sine ipso amarus sit omnis amor. Nec aliud dixerim cor Domino dare, quam ipsum captivare in omni obsequium ejus, et ita voluntati ejus ex toto supponere, ut nihil aliud velit, quam quod noverit eum velle ." Let thine eyes observe my ways ; keep closely to the paths of virtue which I teach thee, especially the path of purity, as the next verse shows. Vulgate, Vias meas custodiant ; Septuagint, ἐμὰς ὁδοὺς πήρειτωσαν . This is the reading of the Keri, תִּצֹרְנָה ; the Khetib, which Delitzsch and others prefer, reads תִּרְצֶנָה , "delight in" my ways.