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Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of mankind.
Proverbs 8:31 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.
  • KJV Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
  • BSB I was rejoicing in His whole world, delighting together in the sons of men.
  • NKJV Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men.
  • NLT And how happy I was with the world he created; how I rejoiced with the human family!

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 rejoiced in God's world and delighted especially in humanity. God's wise design embraces creation and treasures mankind.

Overview

Wisdom's joy extends to the inhabited world and centers on 'the sons of men,' showing that human beings hold a special place in God's wise purpose. This delight in humanity anticipates the love of God that would move him to redeem people through his Son. It is a striking note of grace: the wisdom that framed the universe rejoices over us.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 5

  • Ps 16:3As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.
  • John 13:1Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
  • Ps 40:6–8Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
  • John 4:34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
  • 2 Cor 8:9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

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 8:31YouTube · 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 8:31 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.