Proverbs

Proverbs 8

36 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice? 2On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands. 3Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud: 4“I call to you men! I send my voice to the sons of mankind. 5You simple, understand prudence! You fools, be of an understanding heart! 6Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things. 7For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them. 9They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge. 10Receive my instruction rather than silver, knowledge rather than choice gold. 11For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can’t be compared to it.
12“I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion. 13The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth. 14Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power. 15By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16By me princes rule, nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth. 17I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me. 18With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity. 19My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, my yield than choice silver. 20I walk in the way of righteousness, in the middle of the paths of justice, 21that I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries.
22“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. 23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. 24When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water. 25Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born; 26while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. 27When he established the heavens, I was there. When he set a circle on the surface of the deep, 28when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong, 29when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him, 31rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.
32“Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways. 33Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it. 34Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts. 35For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh. 36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 81 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17144

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–11

The will of God revealed to us for our salvation is here largely represented to us as easy to be known and understood, that none may have an excuse for their ignorance or error, and as worthy to be embraced, that none may have an excuse for their carelessness…

v. 12–21

Wisdom here is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; it is Christ in the word and Christ in the heart, not only Christ revealed to us, but Christ revealed in us. It is the word of God, the whole compass of divine revelation; it…

v. 22–31

That it is an intelligent and divine person that here speaks seems very plain, and that it is not meant of a mere essential property of the divine nature, for Wisdom here has personal properties and actions; and that intelligent divine person can be no other…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176336

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Doth not wisdom cry?.... Christ, who is the Wisdom of God; See Gill on Proverbs 1:20; and which clearly appears from his subsistence with the Father, his eternal existence, and from many personal properties, characters, and actions ascribed to him throughout…

v. 2

She standeth in the top of high places,.... To be both seen and heard, for which reason Christ went up into a mountain and preached, Matthew 5:1; by the way; the roadside, to instruct and direct passengers as they go along, to show them the right way, and…

v. 3

She crieth at the gates,.... Of the temple, or of the city, where the courts of judicature were, and persons met on civil accounts; and where people were continually passing and repassing; at the entry of the city; meeting those that came out of the country…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–187513

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–3

The author has now almost exhausted the ethical material; for in this introduction to the Solomonic Book of Proverbs he works it into a memorial for youth, so that it is time to think of concluding the circle by bending back the end to the beginning. For as…

v. 4–9

Now begins the discourse. The exordium summons general attention to it with the emphasis of its absolute truth: 4 "To you, ye men, is my discourse addressed, And my call is to the children of men! 5 Apprehend, O ye simple ones, what wisdom is; And, ye fools…

v. 10–12

Her self-commendation is continued in the resumed address: 10 "Receive my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold! 11 For wisdom is better than corals, And all precious jewels do not equal her. 12 I, Wisdom, inhabit prudence, And…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187128

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 5

wisdom--literally, "subtilty" in a good sense, or, "prudence." fools--as Pro 1:22.

v. 6

excellent things--or, "plain," "manifest." opening . . . things--upright words.

v. 7

For . . . truth--literally, "My palate shall meditate," or (as Orientals did) "mutter," my thoughts expressed only to myself are truth. wickedness--specially falsehood, as opposed to truth.

World English Bible — Public domain