Home Master Index
←Prev   Proverbs 9 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


9:1  Wisdom has built her house; she has made its seven ·columns [pillars; C a large house].
9:2  She has ·prepared her food [L slaughtered her slaughter] and prepared [mixed] her wine; she has set her table.
9:3  She has sent out her servant girls, and she calls out from the highest place in the city [C the location of the Temple, indicating she symbolizes God].
9:4  She says to those who are ·uneducated [naive; immature; simpleminded], “·Come in [Turn aside] here, you ·foolish people [who lack sense]!
9:5  Come and eat my food and drink the wine I have ·prepared [mixed].
9:6  Stop your ·foolish [naive; immature; simpleminded] ways, and you will live; take the road of understanding.
9:7  “If you ·correct [instruct; discipline] ·someone who makes fun of wisdom [a mocker], you will be insulted. If you correct an evil person, you will ·get hurt [L be blemished].
9:8  Do not correct ·those who make fun of wisdom [mockers], or they will hate you. But correct the wise, and they will love you.
9:9  ·Teach [L Give to] the wise, and they will become even wiser; ·teach [inform] ·good people [the righteous], and they will ·learn even more [L add to their learning].
9:10  “Wisdom begins with ·respect [fear; awe] for the Lord, and understanding begins with knowing the Holy One.
9:11  ·If you live wisely [L Through/By me], you will live a long time; wisdom will add years to your life.
9:12  The wise person is rewarded by wisdom, but ·whoever makes fun of wisdom will suffer for it [L mockers will bear it alone].”
9:13  ·Foolishness is like a loud woman [Woman Folly is boisterous/noisy]; she ·does not have wisdom or knowledge [L is ignorant and does not even know it].
9:14  She sits at the door of her house at the highest place in the city [9:3; C her house is built on the highest point of the city, indicating she symbolizes false gods].
9:15  She ·calls out to [invites] those who are passing by, who are going along, minding their own business.
9:16  She says to those who ·are uneducated [lack sense/heart], “·Come in [Turn aside] here, you ·foolish [naive; immature; simpleminded] people!
9:17  Stolen water is sweeter, and food eaten in secret tastes better.”
9:18  But these people don’t know that ·everyone who goes there dies [the dead/departed/shades are there], that her guests ·end up deep in the grave [L are in the depths of Sheol].