Proverbs 8

The Excellence of Wisdom

¹Does not wisdom call out,

and understanding raise her voice?

• PROV 8:1[NOTE]WISDOM SPEAKS. In chapter 8 Wisdom tells her own story. Black letters here; red starts at 8:22, where she speaks of being with God before the world was made.

²On the heights overlooking the road,

at the crossroads she takes her stand.

³Beside the gates to the city,

at the entrances she cries out:

⁴“To you, O men, I call out,

and my cry is to the sons of men.

⁵O simple ones, learn to be shrewd;

O fools, gain understanding.

⁶Listen, for I speak of noble things,

and the opening of my lips will reveal right.

⁷For my mouth will speak the truth,

and wickedness is detestable to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are righteous;

none are crooked or perverse.

⁹They are all plain to the discerning,

and upright to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction instead of silver,

and knowledge rather than pure gold.

¹¹For wisdom is more precious than rubies,

and nothing you desire compares with her.

¹²I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence,

and I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³To fear Yahweh is to hate evil;

I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

¹⁴Counsel and sound judgment are mine;

I have insight and strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign,

and rulers enact just laws;

¹⁶By me princes rule,

and all nobles who govern justly.

¹⁷I love those who love me,

and those who seek me early shall find me.

¹⁸With me are riches and honor,

enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, pure gold,

and my harvest surpasses choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness,

along the paths of justice,

²¹bestowing wealth on those who love me

and making their treasuries full.

²²Yahweh possessed me at the beginning of His way,

before His works of old.

• PROV 8:22[MESSIAH SPEAKING]Red letters here mean Wisdom is read as Christ speaking, the Son who was with the Father before creation, John 1:1 to 3 and Colossians 1:15 to 17. Many church fathers read it that way, like Justin Martyr. No New Testament verse quotes these lines as His words. Many Jewish readers and many scholars see wisdom pictured as a person, and later Jewish writers linked her to God's law, Sirach 24. See the Big Question Lady Wisdom and Jesus.
• PROV 8:22[TEXT]POSSESSED. The Hebrew word qanah usually means got or owned, as it does everywhere else in Proverbs: Get wisdom, 4:5. So this Bible says possessed me, like the KJV. Some Bibles say created me, like the Greek Old Testament, and in the 300s Arius used that line to say Christ was created. Others say brought me forth, to match the birth words in 8:24 to 25. See Lady Wisdom and Jesus.

²³From everlasting I was established,

from the beginning, before the earth began.

• PROV 8:23[FORESHADOW]Foreordained from everlasting → JN 1:1-3; COL 1:15-17MEDIUM

²⁴When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth,

when no springs were overflowing with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled,

before the hills, I was brought forth,

²⁶before He made the land or fields,

or any of the dust of the earth.

²⁷I was there when He established the heavens,

when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸when He established the clouds above,

when the fountains of the deep gushed forth,

²⁹when He set a boundary for the sea,

so that the waters would not surpass His command,

when He marked out the foundations of the earth.

³⁰Then I was a skilled craftsman at His side,

and His delight day by day,

rejoicing always in His presence.

• PROV 8:30[NOTE]SKILLED CRAFTSMAN. The Hebrew word amon is rare. It can mean master worker, as here, or little child, playing at His side. Both fit the rejoicing that follows.

³¹I was rejoicing in His whole world,

delighting together in the sons of men.

³²Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,

for blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Listen to instruction and be wise;

do not ignore it.

³⁴Blessed is the man who listens to me,

watching daily at my doors,

waiting at the posts of my doorway.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life

and obtains the favor of Yahweh.

³⁶But he who fails to find me harms himself;

all who hate me love death.”