Houses and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB House and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from Yahweh.
- KJV House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.
- NKJV Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, But a prudent wife is from the Lord.
- NASB House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, But a prudent wife is from the Lord.
- NLT Fathers can give their sons an inheritance of houses and wealth, but only the Lord can give an understanding wife.
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
Property is inherited from parents, but a wise, prudent wife is a gift from the LORD. The best blessings come directly from God.
Overview
This proverb distinguishes between what parents can pass down, such as house and wealth, and a prudent wife, who comes specifically 'from Yahweh.' It honors a godly spouse as a gracious gift beyond human provision. The verse magnifies God as the giver of life's deepest blessings and complements 18:22, reminding believers to receive such gifts with gratitude and to trust the Lord for what no inheritance can supply.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 18:22He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
- Prov 31:10–31A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies.
- Prov 13:22A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Prov 3:6in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
- Jas 1:17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- Gen 28:1–4So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded.
- 2 Cor 12:14See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
- Deut 21:16when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.
- Gen 24:7The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and my native land, who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you so that you can take a wife for my son from there.
- Josh 11:23So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to the allotments to their tribes. Then the land had rest from war.
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 19:14 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.