Proverbs 1:6
in Proverbs 1by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
KJV
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
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This verse in Proverbs 1
Commentary
10 notes on this verseDark sayings - חידת chidoth, enigmas or riddles, in which the Asiatics abounded. I believe parables, such as those delivered by our Lord, nearly express the meaning of the original.
This site's exposition
A wise man will hear
on Proverbs 1:5-6
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning turns the target audience from the simple of verse 4 to the already wise, since wisdom in this book is never a finished possession but a thing still being increased. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation names the double task the form itself demands, the terse saying and the working out of what it means in a life. Dark sayings renders a word used elsewhere of riddles, and the bench notes that Hebrew wisdom prized compression, expecting the reader to supply the labor the brevity withholds.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
It is universally admitted that the name of "proverb," in its scriptural use, is not applied with regard to the evident sense, but is used with a view to some hidden meaning, as the Gospel thus gives the name of "proverbs" to dark and obscure sayings; so that the "proverb," if one were to set forth the interpretation of the name by a definition, is a form of speech which, by means of one set of ideas immediately presented, points to something else which is hidden, or a form of speech which does not point out the aim of the thought directly, but gives its instruction by an indirect signification.
"He made darkness his cover, his pavilion around him: dark water in the clouds of the air." … Remember that darkness is used also in a good sense, as in this passage from Solomon's Proverbs: "He also understands a parable and a dark saying." All …
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2:171-73 · Written before 253.
proposed
We must observe that not every time something is named "darkness" is it taken in a bad sense; there are times when it has also been used in a good sense. It is because the heterodox did not make this distinction that they accepted the most irreverent doctrines concerning the Creator and withdrew from him and abandoned themselves to the fictions of myths. We must now point out, therefore, how and when the term darkness is understood in a good sense.Darkness, storm clouds and thunderstorms are said to surround God in Exodus, and in Psalm 17 it says, God "made darkness his hiding place, his tent around him, dark water in the clouds of the air." … But if someone takes offense at such interpretations, let him be persuaded both from the dark sayings and the dark, hidden, invisible treasures given to Christ by God.
The Medieval Church1 voice
He will comprehend a proverb and a parable, etc. This humility was given to the disciples by the wisdom that taught them in the flesh so that they could understand both its parables, which the crowds could not comprehend, and the enigmas of the prophets …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Note, It is a credit to religion when men of honesty are men of sense; all good people therefore should aim to be intelligent, and run to and fro, take pains in the use of means, that their knowledge may be increased.
Those who are young and simple may by them be made wise, and are not excluded from Solomon's school, as they were from Plato's. No; here is not only milk for babes, but strong meat for strong men.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The book has yet a further scope; these proverbs are to form a habit of mind. To gain through them the power of entering into the deeper meaning of other proverbs, is the end kept in view. Compare Matt. 13. The rendering “interpretation” spoils the parallelism of the two clauses, and fails to express the Hebrew. In Hab 2:6, it is rendered “taunting proverb.” Here “riddle” or “enigma” would better express the meaning.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְהָבִ֣ין | lehavin | to understand | H995 → | 170 times |
| מָ֭שָׁל | mashol | a proverb | H4912 → | 39 times |
| וּמְלִיצָ֑ה | umelitzah | and an enigma | H4426 → | |
| דִּבְרֵ֥י | divrei | [the] words of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| חֲ֝כָמִ֗ים | chakhamim | learned ones | H2450 → | 138 times |
| וְחִידֹתָֽם׃ | vechidotam | and parables their | H2420 → |
לְהָבִ֣יןto understand
lehavinH995 →170 times
מָ֭שָׁלa proverb
masholH4912 →39 times
וּמְלִיצָ֑הand an enigma
umelitzahH4426 →
דִּבְרֵ֥י[the] words of
divreiH1697 →1440 times
חֲ֝כָמִ֗יםlearned ones
chakhamimH2450 →138 times
וְחִידֹתָֽם׃and parables their
vechidotamH2420 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Hebrews 5:14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 2:14–15
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21
but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.
- Philippians 1:9–10
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
- 1 Corinthians 2:6
Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
- Ephesians 1:18
I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
- 1 Corinthians 2:14–15
Through
Psalms 78:2I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
it leads to
- Matthew 13:34–35
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables. He did not tell them anything without using a parable.
- Mark 4:34
He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.
- Matthew 13:11–13
He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
- Matthew 13:34–35
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Proverbs
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 17:12; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Gregory of Nyssa, AGAINST EUNOMIUS 3:2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2:171-73.