For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh.
- BSB For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of 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 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 3:36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
- 1 Jn 5:11–12And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
- Prov 12:2A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.
- Phil 3:8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
- John 17:3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
- Col 3:3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
- Prov 3:13–18Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
- John 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
- Eph 1:6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
- Prov 1:33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
- John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
- Prov 4:22For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
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.