Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice?
Parallel translations
- WEB Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?
- KJV Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
- NKJV Does not wisdom cry out, And understanding lift up her voice?
- NASB Does not wisdom call, And understanding raise her voice?
- NLT Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding raises her voice!
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 openly calls out and raises her voice. Wisdom is freely offered to all who will listen.
Overview
In sharp contrast to the secretive seductress of chapter 7, wisdom is personified as a woman crying aloud in the open. Her public appeal shows that the way of life is not hidden but freely proclaimed. This personification of wisdom points forward to Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 1:20–21Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;
- Matt 3:3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”
- John 7:37On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Acts 1:8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- Prov 9:1–3Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.
- Isa 55:1–3“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
- Rom 15:18–21I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,
- Luke 24:47and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
- Isa 49:1–6Listen to Me, O islands; pay attention, O distant peoples: The LORD called Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me.
- Mark 13:10And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations.
- Matt 28:19–20Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
- Mark 16:15–16And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Matt 4:17From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
- Acts 22:21Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:1 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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