A man who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead.
Parallel translations
- WEB The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.
- KJV The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.
- BSB The man who strays from the path of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.
- NASB A person who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead.
- NLT The person who strays from common sense will end up in the company of the dead.
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
Whoever strays from the way of understanding ends among the dead. It matters as a sober warning that abandoning wisdom leads to ruin.
Overview
To wander from wisdom is to walk the path to death and the company of the departed (Proverbs 2:18-19; 9:18). The verse underscores that wisdom is a matter of life and death. The way of understanding, rooted in the fear of the Lord, leads to life, while forsaking it leads to destruction.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Heb 10:38But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- Ps 125:5But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.
- Ps 49:14They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion.
- Zeph 1:6those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.
- 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.
- Heb 10:26–27For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,
- John 3:19–20This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
- Heb 6:4–6For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
- Prov 7:26–27for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.
- Eph 2:1You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
- Prov 13:20One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
- Prov 2:18–19for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.
- Jude 1:12These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- 2 Pet 2:21–22For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
- Prov 9:18But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
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 21:16 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.