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To endow those who love me with wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.
Proverbs 8:21 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB That I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries.
  • KJV That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
  • BSB bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full.
  • NKJV That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.
  • NLT Those who love me inherit wealth. I will fill their treasuries.

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 gives lasting wealth to those who love her and fills their treasuries. Loving wisdom leads to genuine, abiding inheritance.

Overview

This verse completes the thought begun in verse 20: walking in righteousness leads to a real and lasting inheritance for those who love wisdom. The 'wealth' and 'treasuries' speak of substantial, abiding good, not just fleeting prosperity. For the believer this points ultimately to the eternal inheritance secured in Christ for those who love God (Ephesians 1:18).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • Prov 24:4by knowledge the rooms are filled with all rare and beautiful treasure.
  • 1 Pet 1:4to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,
  • Matt 25:46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
  • Gen 15:14I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth,
  • 1 Sam 2:8He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.
  • Heb 10:34For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.
  • Prov 1:13We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder.
  • Ps 16:11You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.
  • Rev 21:7He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
  • Prov 8:18With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity.
  • John 1:1–18In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
  • Prov 6:31but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.
  • Rom 8:17and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
  • Eph 3:19–20and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 8:21YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 8:21 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.