Proverbs 8:9
in Proverbs 8They are all plain to the discerning, and upright to those who find knowledge.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They are all plain to him that understandeth, And right to them that find knowledge.
KJV
They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
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This verse in Proverbs 8
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThey are all plain - נכחים nechochim, straight forward, over against every man, level to every capacity. This is true of all that concerns the salvation of the soul. To them that find knowledge - When a man gets the knowledge of himself, then he sees all the threatenings of God to be right. When he obtains the knowledge of God in Christ, then he finds that all the promises of God are right - yea and amen.
This site's exposition
for I speak of noble things
on Proverbs 8:6-11
Wisdom's credentials are moral before they are intellectual: “none are crooked or perverse”. “They are all plain to the discerning,” so any difficulty lies in the hearer. The price comparison, “my instruction instead of silver” and wisdom “more precious than rubies,” repeats the appraisal of 3:14-15.
This site's exposition
They are all plain to the discerning
Clarke renders plain as straight ahead, set in front of every man and level to every capacity. The discerning see it at once. Those who find knowledge find her words upright.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
[Jesus] "spoke all things in parables, and without a parable he spoke nothing" [to the apostles]; and if "all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made," consequently also prophecy and the law were by him and were spoken by him in parables. "But all things are right," says the Scripture, "before those who understand," that is, those who receive and observe, according to the church's rule of faith, the exposition of the Scriptures explained by him. And the church's rule is the concord and harmony of the law and the prophets in the covenant delivered at the coming of the Lord. Knowledge is then followed by practical wisdom and practical wisdom by self-control, for it may be said that practical wisdom is divine knowledge and exists in those who share in God's life, while the self-control that is mortal, which is present in those who philosophize, is not yet wise.
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1:40 · Written before 253.
proposed
That which John calls an eternal gospel, which would properly be called a spiritual gospel, clearly presents both the mysteries presented by Christ's words and the things of which his acts were symbols, to those who consider "all things face to face" concerning the Son of God himself. Consistent with these matters, we understand that just as one is a Jew outwardly and circumcised, there being both an outward and inward circumcision, so it is with a Christian and baptism.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 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,
They are all plain to him that understandeth,.... Whose understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of God; who is a spiritual man, that has a discerning, and can judge of spiritual things: as for the carnal man, let him have what natural knowledge or wisdom he will, he cannot know these things; for they are spiritually discerned, and can only be discerned by spiritual men.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֻּלָּ֣ם | kulam | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| נְ֭כֹחִים | nekhochim | [are] right | H5228 → | |
| לַמֵּבִ֑ין | lamevin | to the discerning [person] | H995 → | 170 times |
| וִֽ֝ישָׁרִ֗ים | visharim | and upright | H3477 → | 119 times |
| לְמֹ֣צְאֵי | lemotzeei | to [those who] find | H4672 → | 455 times |
| דָֽעַת׃ | daat | <of> knowledge | H1847 → | 92 times |
כֻּלָּ֣םall of them
kulamH3605 →5413 times
נְ֭כֹחִים[are] right
nekhochimH5228 →
לַמֵּבִ֑יןto the discerning [person]
lamevinH995 →170 times
וִֽ֝ישָׁרִ֗יםand upright
visharimH3477 →119 times
לְמֹ֣צְאֵיto [those who] find
lemotzeeiH4672 →455 times
דָֽעַת׃<of> knowledge
daatH1847 →92 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
John 6:45It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me—
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:33–34
“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 54:13
Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.
- Hebrews 10:16
“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”
- Hebrews 8:10–11
For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And…
- Jeremiah 31:33–34
Through
James 1:5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
it leads to
- Proverbs 2:3–6
if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,
- John 15:7
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
- Jeremiah 29:12–13
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Proverbs 3:5–7
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- Proverbs 2:3–6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
On this chapter
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 6; 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 1:40.