Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wisdom is too high for a fool: he doesn’t open his mouth in the gate.
- BSB Wisdom is too high for a fool; he does not open his mouth in the meeting place.
- NKJV Wisdom is too lofty for a fool; He does not open his mouth in the gate.
- NASB ¶Wisdom is too exalted for a fool, He does not open his mouth at the gate.
- NLT Wisdom is too lofty for fools. Among leaders at the city gate, they have nothing to say.
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
Wisdom is beyond a fool's reach, so he stays silent where decisions are made.
Overview
A fool cannot attain true wisdom, so he has nothing to contribute "in the gate," the place of counsel and judgment. His silence there exposes his lack of insight. The verse shows that folly disqualifies a person from the weighty matters wisdom handles, underscoring wisdom's surpassing value.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Prov 14:6A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.
- 1 Cor 2:14But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- Ps 10:5His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
- Ps 92:5–6O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
- Prov 31:8–9Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
- Isa 29:21That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
- Job 5:4His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
- Prov 15:24The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
- Amos 5:10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
- Prov 22:22Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
- Prov 17:24Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.
- Amos 5:12For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
- Amos 5:15Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
- Job 31:21If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
- Job 29:7–25When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 24:7 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.