by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
Parallel translations
- WEB to understand a proverb, and parables, the words and riddles of the wise.
- KJV To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
- NKJV To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.
- NASB To understand a proverb and a saying, The words of the wise and their riddles.
- NLT by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles.
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
Proverbs also trains us to interpret proverbs, parables, and riddles of the wise. It matters because wisdom includes the skill to understand deeper, layered truth.
Overview
This completes the purpose statement (vv. 2-6): wisdom equips us to grasp compressed, sometimes enigmatic sayings that require reflection. Such interpretive skill anticipates Jesus' own teaching in parables, which reveal truth to the seeking and conceal it from the hard-hearted (Matt. 13:11-13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 78:2I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
- Mark 4:11He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables,
- Ps 49:4I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle with the harp:
- Acts 8:30–31So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
- Heb 5:14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
- Mark 4:34He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.
- Matt 13:10–17Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”
- Eccl 12:11The words of the wise are like goads, and the anthologies of the masters are like firmly embedded nails driven by a single Shepherd.
- Matt 13:34–35Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables. He did not tell them anything without using a parable.
- 2 Pet 3:16He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
- Matt 13:51–52Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered.
- Num 12:8I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 1:6 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.