Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.
- BSB Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
- NKJV Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
- NASB Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
- NLT Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
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
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear Yahweh and turn from evil. It matters because humble reverence for God, not self-confidence, is true wisdom.
Overview
This verse warns against the pride of self-sufficient wisdom, the opposite of the fear of the Lord. Genuine wisdom is humble and turns from evil. Such humility before God is foundational to the whole book (1:7) and is modeled perfectly by Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Job 28:28And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
- Rom 12:16Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
- Prov 26:12Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
- Prov 16:6By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
- Job 1:1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
- Isa 5:21Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
- Ps 34:11–14Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
- Eccl 12:13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
- Prov 14:27The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
- Rom 11:25For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
- Neh 5:15But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:7 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.