Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart - never go or be anywhere without these graces accompanying thee. "Mercy" toward men; "truth," i:e., sincerity, toward God. These two comprehend all the duties we owe toward God and man. "Bind them about thy neck," not merely as an ornament (Proverbs 1:9; Proverbs 5:22), but as something always near and to be kept in view, like a chain hanging from the neck (Proverbs 6:21; Proverbs 7:3; Exodus 6:8; Exodus 13:9; Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 11:18), to which allusion is made here (Song of Solomon 1:10; Song of Solomon 4:9; Ezekiel 16:11, "Write them upon the table of thine heart;" cf. Jeremiah 17:1; 2 Corinthians 3:3). The Spirit alone can enable us to "write them on the table," i:e., the tablet, of the heart (Jeremiah 31:33).