Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
Parallel translations
- WEB Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;
- BSB if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,
- NKJV Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,
- NASB For if you cry out for insight, And raise your voice for understanding;
- NLT Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.
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
We must cry out and lift our voice for understanding. It matters because wisdom is gained through earnest, prayerful seeking.
Overview
Beyond listening, the seeker actively calls out and pleads for insight. This urgent crying expresses dependence, acknowledging that understanding is a gift to be sought, not merely achieved. It anticipates James 1:5, where God promises wisdom to those who ask in faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jas 1:5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
- Eph 1:17–18That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
- Prov 3:6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
- Ps 25:4–5Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
- 1 Kgs 3:9–12Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
- Ps 119:125I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.
- Ps 119:169Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word.
- Luke 11:13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
- Ps 119:34Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
- Ps 119:73Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
- 1 Chr 22:12Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God.
- Prov 8:17I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
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 2:3 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.