“I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.
Parallel translations
- WEB I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.
- KJV I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
- BSB I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me.
- NKJV I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.
- NLT “I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me.
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 loves those who love her, and those who seek her diligently will find her. God rewards the earnest pursuit of wisdom.
Overview
This warm promise assures the seeker that the pursuit of wisdom is not one-sided; wisdom responds with love to those who love her. The call to seek 'diligently' implies wholehearted effort, echoing the promise that those who seek God find him (Jeremiah 29:13). Jesus affirms the same principle, promising that those who seek will find (Matthew 7:7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- John 14:23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
- John 14:21One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
- Ps 91:14“Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
- Isa 55:6Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.
- 1 Jn 4:19We love him, because he first loved us.
- 1 Sam 2:30“Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed.
- Matt 7:7–8“Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.
- Matt 6:33But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
- Isa 45:19I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
- Jas 1:5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
- John 16:27for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.
- Prov 1:28Then will they call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me;
- Eccl 12:1Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
- Mark 10:14But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.
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 8:17 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.