Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;
Parallel translations
- KJV Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy 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 1:5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
- Eph 1:17–18that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
- Prov 3:6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
- Ps 25:4–5Show me your ways, Yahweh. Teach me your paths.
- 1 Kgs 3:9–12Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
- Ps 119:125I am your servant. Give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies.
- Ps 119:169Let my cry come before you, Yahweh. Give me understanding according to your word.
- Luke 11:13If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
- Ps 119:34Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart.
- Ps 119:73Your hands have made me and formed me. Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.
- 1 Chr 22:12May Yahweh give you discretion and understanding, and put you in charge of Israel; that so you may keep the law of Yahweh your God.
- Prov 8:17I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will 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.