The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
Parallel translations
- WEB The words of the wise are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
- BSB The words of the wise are like goads, and the anthologies of the masters are like firmly embedded nails driven by a single Shepherd.
- NKJV The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd.
- NASB The words of the wise are like goads, and masters of these collections are like driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.
- NLT The words of the wise are like cattle prods—painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Wise words prod and steady us like goads and firmly fixed nails, all coming from one Shepherd. It affirms that true wisdom ultimately has a single divine source.
Overview
Wise sayings are compared to goads that spur an animal forward and to nails that fasten things securely, meaning they both provoke action and give settled stability. The phrase "one shepherd" is widely understood to point to God as the ultimate author of all genuine wisdom, given through human teachers. This points forward to Jesus, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), whose words give both direction and security to his flock.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Acts 2:37Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
- Jer 23:29Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
- Heb 4:12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
- Ezek 34:23And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
- 2 Cor 10:4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
- Prov 22:17Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
- Isa 40:11He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
- Prov 1:6To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
- John 3:10Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
- Ps 23:1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
- Matt 3:7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
- John 10:14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
- Isa 22:23And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
- Ps 80:1Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
- 1 Pet 5:4And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
- Heb 13:20Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
- Gen 49:24But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
- Ezra 9:8And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
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The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 12:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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