To understand a proverb and a saying, The words of the wise and their riddles.
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.
- BSB by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
- NKJV To understand a proverb and an enigma, 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 a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,
- Mark 4:11He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,
- Ps 49:4I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will open my riddle on the harp.
- Acts 8:30–31Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
- Heb 5:14But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
- Mark 4:34Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
- Matt 13:10–17The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
- Eccl 12:11The 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.
- Matt 13:34–35Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,
- 2 Pet 3:16as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
- Matt 13:51–52Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
- Num 12:8With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.