Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
- BSB A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
- NKJV Whoever loves wisdom makes his father rejoice, But a companion of harlots wastes his wealth.
- NASB A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, But he who involves himself with prostitutes wastes his wealth.
- NLT The man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but if he hangs around with prostitutes, his wealth is wasted.
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
Loving wisdom delights a father, but consorting with prostitutes wastes one's wealth. It contrasts the joy of wise living with the ruin of immorality.
Overview
The proverb pairs the joy a wise son brings his father with the loss and shame of a son who squanders his substance on prostitutes. Wisdom honors family and preserves blessing, while sexual sin destroys. This recalls the prodigal who wasted his inheritance and the Father's joy at the repentant son's return, a picture of gospel grace (Luke 15:13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 27:11My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
- Luke 15:30But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
- Prov 10:1The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
- Prov 15:20A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.
- Prov 6:26For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
- Prov 28:7Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.
- Luke 15:13And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
- Prov 21:17He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
- Prov 5:8–10Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
- Prov 23:24–25The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
- Prov 21:20There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.
- Prov 28:19He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
- Luke 1:13–17But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
- Prov 23:15My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
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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 29:3 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
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