For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh.
- KJV For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
- ESV For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,
- NKJV For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord;
- NASB “For one who finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord.
- NLT For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
Whoever finds wisdom finds life and obtains favor from Yahweh. To gain wisdom is to gain life and God's blessing.
Overview
Wisdom links finding her with finding life itself and receiving the Lord's favor, showing that wisdom is no mere intellectual asset but the way of flourishing under God. This 'life' is far more than length of days; it is life in fellowship with God. Jesus, who is wisdom and life, makes this explicit: to find him is to find eternal life (John 14:6; 1 John 5:12).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- John 3:36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- 1 Jn 5:11–12And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
- Prov 12:2The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.
- Phil 3:8More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
- John 17:3Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.
- Col 3:3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
- Prov 3:13–18Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding,
- John 14:6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- Eph 1:6to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.
- Prov 1:33But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”
- John 3:16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- Prov 4:22For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.
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 8:35 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.