With your wisdom and your understanding You have gained riches for yourself, And gathered gold and silver into your treasuries;
Parallel translations
- WEB by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures;
- KJV With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
- BSB By your wisdom and understanding you have gained your wealth and amassed gold and silver for your treasuries.
- NASB “By your wisdom and understanding You have acquired riches for yourself And have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries.
- NLT With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth— gold and silver for your treasuries.
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
By his wisdom the prince amassed great riches, gold, and silver. It acknowledges his real ability while setting up the charge of pride.
Overview
The verse credits the ruler's genuine skill in building wealth through trade and shrewdness. Yet the point is that he took the credit himself, forgetting that every ability and increase comes from God. This misuse of God-given gifts, claiming them as one's own glory, lies at the heart of his condemnation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 18:11The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.
- Deut 8:17–18and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.”
- Prov 23:4–5Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
- Ezek 29:3Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the middle of his rivers, that has said, ‘My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.’
- Hab 1:16Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.
- Zech 9:2–4and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.
- Eccl 9:11I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 28:4 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.