Proverbs 9:15
in Proverbs 9calling out to those who pass by, who make their paths straight.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
To call to them that pass by, Who go right on their ways:
KJV
To call passengers who go right on their ways:
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This verse in Proverbs 9
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis is the method of the stage (which is too close an exposition of this paragraph), where the sober young man, that has been virtuously educated, is the fool in the play, and the plot is to make him seven times more a child of hell than his profane companions, under colour of polishing and refining him, and setting him up for a wit and a beau.
This site's exposition
The woman named Folly is loud
on Proverbs 9:13-18
Folly mirrors Wisdom's table, calling the same passersby with the same line, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”. The narrator adds what the guest cannot see, “that her guests are in the depths of Sheol,” closing the first nine chapters on the choice.
This site's exposition
who make their paths straight
Folly calls to those who pass by on straight paths, travelers with no plan to turn in. The young man of 7:8 walked to the adulteress's door. Henry saw the same plot on the stage of his day, where the well-raised young man is made the fool.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
To call passersby who walk by the way, etc. Heresy often calls the Catholics to deception, seeing them proceed on the right path, wishing to quickly pass through this world and hasten to the eternal homeland.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Simple - Ignorant, and weak. A former - He shews whom he meant by the foolish, ver. 6, even scorners and wicked men, and presses his last advice of forsaking them because there was no good, but hurt to be got from them. A scorner - An obstinate and incorrigible sinner.
quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-6-anchored-13-17
To call passengers who go right on their ways. Who have been religiously educated, and trained up in the principles of true Christianity; and who walk outwardly according to the rule of the divine word, and are in a fair way for heaven and eternal happiness.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
and whoever is devoid of sense (lit. and one devoid of sense.) and she says to him these words. What does she say to him?
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. 2 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
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לִקְרֹ֥א | likro' | to call out | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לְעֹֽבְרֵי־ | leoerei- | to [those who] pass by of | H5674 → | 556 times |
| דָ֑רֶךְ | darekh | [the] road | H1870 → | 707 times |
| הַֽ֝מְיַשְּׁרִ֗ים | hamyasherim | those [who] make straight | H3474 → | 25 times |
| אֹֽרְחוֹתָֽם׃ | ʾorechotam | paths their | H734 → | 58 times |
לִקְרֹ֥אto call out
likro'H7121 →733 times
לְעֹֽבְרֵי־to [those who] pass by of
leoerei-H5674 →556 times
דָ֑רֶךְ[the] road
darekhH1870 →707 times
הַֽ֝מְיַשְּׁרִ֗יםthose [who] make straight
hamyasherimH3474 →25 times
אֹֽרְחוֹתָֽם׃paths their
ʾorechotamH734 →58 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
On this chapter
About Proverbs
This page draws on Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.