She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
Parallel translations
- WEB Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud:
- BSB Beside the gates to the city, at the entrances she cries out:
- NKJV She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, At the entrance of the doors:
- NASB Beside the gates, at the opening to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:
- NLT By the gates at the entrance to the town, on the road leading in, she cries aloud,
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 cries out at the city gates and entrances, the centers of public life. Her message reaches everyone.
Overview
Standing at the gates, where commerce and justice were conducted, wisdom proclaims her message to all comers. Her public platform shows she withholds her counsel from no one. The contrast with the secretive ways of folly could not be sharper.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Job 29:7When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
- Luke 14:21–23So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
- Acts 5:20Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.
- Matt 22:9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
- John 18:20Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.
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 8:3 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.