“For one who finds me finds life, And obtains favor from 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.
- BSB For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor 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;
- NLT For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.
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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 3:36One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
- 1 Jn 5:11–12The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
- Prov 12:2A good man shall obtain favor from Yahweh, but he will condemn a man of wicked devices.
- Phil 3:8Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
- John 17:3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
- Col 3:3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
- Prov 3:13–18Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding.
- John 14:6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- Eph 1:6to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved,
- Prov 1:33But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”
- John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- Prov 4:22For they are life to those who find them, and health to their 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.