If you don’t learn to govern yourself, you will be governed by others, and your own impulses will be the reins they use to lead you.

That’s Solomon’s warning to young men in the Book of Proverbs. Solomon asked God for wisdom so that he could rule righteously, and God wants each of us to become, like Solomon, wise kings in this life and the next. We must rule well, and that begins with ruling ourselves.

Mark Horne packs Solomon Says: Directives for Young Men with robust exegetical insight into several passages from the Book of Proverbs that caution young men to stamp out sloth, flee from immorality, and curb other habits that might impoverish them.

Drawing on the biblical text and other 20th century thinkers, Horne advises young men on ways they can become husband material, or how they should battle pornography, drunkenness, and a gluttonous lifestyle while also training their bodies for honest work and their tongues for righteousness instead of toxic talk.

As Solomon warned, a young man who does not learn to parent himself will be ruled by other parents, whether wicked people or wicked desires, that do not have his best interests in mind.