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Proverbs 9

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Lady Wisdom Prepares a Feast 1–6

1
Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: ​
2
She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. ​
3
She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,
4
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, ​
5
Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. ​
6
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

The Difference Between Wise and Scornful 7–12

7
He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. ​
8
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. ​
9
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. ​
11
For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.
12
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. ​

Lady Folly's Deadly Invitation 13–18

13
A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. ​
14
For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, ​
15
To call passengers who go right on their ways:
16
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, ​
17
Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. ​
18
But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Proverbs 9

Verse 1

Wisdom hath builded her house — The Hebrew for 'Wisdom' is the plural form chokmoth, which in Proverbs occurs only in Prov 1:20 (where Wisdom 'crieth'), here, Prov 14:1 and Prov 24:7. Her building matches 'Every wise woman buildeth her house' (Prov 14:1) and 'Through wisdom is an house builded' (Prov 24:3).

Verse 2

she hath killed her beasts — The slaughter and the 'mingled' (masak, mixed) wine are a banquet made ready before anyone is invited. The king's feast in the parable is the same: 'my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready' (Matt 22:4). The maidens of v.3 then carry the call.

Verse 4

Whoso is simple — Pethi, the open, unformed mind that can still be led either way (Prov 1:22; 7:7). 'Wanteth understanding' is literally lacks heart. Wisdom calls the untaught: 'O ye simple, understand wisdom' (Prov 8:5). Christ thanks the Father that he has 'revealed them unto babes' (Matt 11:25).

Verse 5

Come, eat of my bread — The table prepared in v.2 is opened. Isaiah's call is of the same kind: 'come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price' (Isa 55:1). Christ says 'I am the bread of life' (John 6:35), and Paul calls him 'the wisdom of God' (1 Cor 1:24).

Verse 7

getteth to himself shame — Letz is the scorner who mocks. Reproving him brings back 'shame' and a 'blot' (mum), the word for the blemish that disqualifies a sacrifice or priest (Lev 22:20; 21:17). The wicked man is bracketed with him, and Prov 15:12 says a scorner 'loveth not one that reproveth him'.

Verse 8

Reprove not a scorner — The verb yakach, to reprove, stands in v.7 ('rebuketh') and twice in v.8, and the answers are hate and love. 'Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee' is the stance of Ps 141:5: 'let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil'. Christ gives the same caution about what is holy in Matt 7:6.

Verse 10

the beginning of wisdom — Here 'beginning' is techillah, found in Proverbs only in this verse; Prov 1:7 uses reshith, and Ps 111:10 opens with the same clause. 'The holy' is plural (qedoshim), the form of 'an holy God' in Josh 24:19; 'the knowledge of the holy' is also Prov 30:3.

Verse 12

thou alone shalt bear it — Nasa, to carry, the verb of 'bear his iniquity' (Lev 5:1). The wise man's gain is 'for thyself', as Job 22:2 puts it: 'he that is wise may be profitable unto himself'. The scorner carries his own load, as Ezek 18:20 says: 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.'

Verse 13

A foolish woman is clamorous — Literally 'the woman of folly' (kesiluth, found only here), the counterpart to Wisdom. 'Clamorous' is hamah, to be loud, the word used of the harlot in Prov 7:11, 'She is loud and stubborn'. 'Knoweth nothing' is answered in v.18: 'he knoweth not that the dead are there'.

Verse 14

in the high places of the city — Folly sits 'on a seat' at her door in the marom, the high places where Wisdom 'crieth upon the highest places of the city' (v.3; also Prov 8:2). Wisdom sends out 'her maidens'; Folly sits at her door.

Verse 16

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither — The invitation is the same in the Hebrew as Wisdom's in v.4, and it is addressed to the same hearer. What follows differs: Wisdom offers her bread and the wine she has mingled (v.5), Folly offers 'stolen waters' (v.17), and one road leads to life (v.6) and the other to the dead (v.18).

Verse 17

Stolen waters are sweet — This is the opposite of the lawful drinking of Prov 5:15–16, 'Drink waters out of thine own cistern'. The sweetness is secret ('in secret') and short. 'Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel' (Prov 20:17).

Verse 18

the dead are there — The Hebrew is rephaim, the dead, found in Proverbs only here, Prov 2:18 ('her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead') and Prov 21:16 ('the congregation of the dead'). 'Her guests' are literally those called, and 'hell' is Sheol, set against 'live' in v.6.