for it is pleasing when you keep them within you and they are constantly on your lips.
Parallel translations
- WEB For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.
- KJV For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
- NKJV For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
- NASB For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, So that they may be ready on your lips.
- NLT For it is good to keep these sayings in your heart and always ready on your lips.
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
It is a delight to store wisdom inside you so it is always ready to speak rightly.
Overview
Wisdom is meant to be internalized, not just admired, so that it overflows in fitting speech. The pleasantness here points to wisdom's reward: a life shaped within and expressed without. This anticipates the new covenant promise of God's law written on the heart (Jer. 31:33), fulfilled as Christ's word dwells richly in His people (Col. 3:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Jer 15:16Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.
- Prov 2:10For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul.
- Prov 8:6Listen, for I speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right.
- Ps 119:103How sweet are Your words to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth!
- Prov 10:21The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of judgment.
- Prov 15:7The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.
- John 7:38Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”
- Prov 24:13–14Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.
- Prov 3:17All her ways are pleasant, and all her paths are peaceful.
- Prov 16:21The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant speech promotes instruction.
- Heb 13:15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
- Ps 19:10They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
- Ps 119:171My lips pour forth praise, for You teach me Your statutes.
- Ps 119:111Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
- Ps 119:13With my lips I proclaim all the judgments of Your mouth.
- Ps 119:162I rejoice in Your promise like one who finds great spoil.
- Prov 25:11A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
- Prov 10:13Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.
- Job 32:18–19For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me.
- Mal 2:7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 22:18 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.