Listen to instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it.
- KJV Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
- NKJV Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it.
- NASB “Listen to instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it.
- NLT Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it.
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
We are urged to hear instruction, become wise, and not refuse it. Wisdom is gained by humbly receiving correction.
Overview
Wisdom presses her appeal with an urgent command not to neglect or reject her teaching. The exhortation assumes that instruction is freely available but must be willingly received. This reflects the consistent biblical call to a teachable heart, the humility that James commends in receiving the implanted word (James 1:21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 4:1Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
- Ps 81:11–12But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
- Prov 5:1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
- Prov 1:8Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
- Prov 1:2–3for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight,
- Rom 10:16–17But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
- Heb 12:25See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
- Prov 1:21in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech:
- 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!
- Acts 7:35–37This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be their ruler and redeemer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 8:33 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.