Proverbs 8:1
in Proverbs 8Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Doth not wisdom cry, And understanding put forth her voice?
KJV
Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
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This verse in Proverbs 8
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
A companion picture to that in Prov. 7, and serving in some measure to generalize and idealize it. Wisdom also calls Pro 8:5 to the “simple” and the “fools,” and they have to choose between her voice and that of the temptress.
This site's exposition
Doth not wisdom cry
on Proverbs 8:1-5
Against the strange woman of chapter 7, who waits in the twilight for one young man, wisdom cries in the top of high places, at the gates, at the entry of the city, to everyone: unto you, O men, I call. The contrast is the chapter's frame and the bench draws it: sin whispers privately and wisdom shouts publicly, so no one perishes for want of an invitation. Her audience is named without flattery, the simple and the fools, the very ones chapter 7 watched walk into the trap.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Does not wisdom cry out? etc. Has not the Lord spoken openly to the world? and has he spoken nothing in secret (John. XVII)? Why then, neglecting His Gospel, do the wretched rather flock to listen to heresy, or the seduction of vice, which whisper …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
The redeemer is the eternal Word and wisdom, the Logos. He is the Wisdom that speaks to the children of men in the former part of the chapter. All divine revelation passes through his hand, and centres in him; but of him as the personal Wisdom, the second person in the Godhead, in the judgment of many of the ancients, Solomon here speaks,
The curses and blessings were read with a loud voice by the Levites, Deut. xxvii. And men's own hearts sometimes speak aloud to them; there are clamours of conscience, as well as whispers. They are proclaimed from on high (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Possibly both may be joined together, and the chapter may be understood of Christ considered partly in his personal capacity, and partly in regard of his office, which was to impart the mind and will of God to mankind.
Doth not wisdom cry?.... Christ, who is the Wisdom of God; See Gill on Pro 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 the whole of this chapter, and in the following.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Doth not wisdom cry? - Here wisdom is again personified; but the prosopopoeia is carried on to a greater length than before, and with much more variety. It is represented in this chapter in a twofold point of view: 1. Wisdom, the power of judging rightly, implying the knowledge of Divine and human things. 2. As an attribute of God, particularly displayed in the various and astonishing works of creation. Nor has it any other meaning in this whole chapter, whatever some of the fathers may have dreamed, who find allegorical meanings every where. The wise man seems as if suddenly awakened from the distressful contemplation which he had before him, - of the ruin of young persons in both worlds by means of debauchery, - by the voice of wisdom, who has lifted up her voice in the most public places, where was the greatest concourse of the people, to warn the yet unsnared, that they might avoid the way of seduction and sin; and cause those who love her to inherit substance, and to have their treasuries filled with durable riches.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Will not wisdom call out Does not the Torah announce for you the things mentioned below in this section?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲלֹֽא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| חָכְמָ֥ה | chokhmah | wisdom | H2451 → | 153 times |
| תִקְרָ֑א | tikra' | does she call out | H7121 → | 733 times |
| וּ֝תְבוּנָ֗ה | utevunah | and understanding | H8394 → | 42 times |
| תִּתֵּ֥ן | titen | does she give forth? | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| קוֹלָֽהּ׃ | kolah | voice her | H6963 → | 506 times |
הֲלֹֽא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
חָכְמָ֥הwisdom
chokhmahH2451 →153 times
תִקְרָ֑אdoes she call out
tikra'H7121 →733 times
וּ֝תְבוּנָ֗הand understanding
utevunahH8394 →42 times
תִּתֵּ֥ןdoes she give forth?
titenH5414 →2011 times
קוֹלָֽהּ׃voice her
kolahH6963 →506 times
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
Acts 1:8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
it leads to
- Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
- Mark 16:15
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Romans 15:19
by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
- Acts 4:33
With great power the apostles continued to give their testimony about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And abundant grace was upon them all.
- Acts 5:32
We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
- Matthew 28:19
Through
John 7:37On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:1
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Isaiah 55:1
Through
Matthew 3:3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:3
A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
- Isaiah 40:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Proverbs
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; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.