My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge.
Parallel translations
- WEB They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge.
- KJV They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
- BSB They are all plain to the discerning, and upright to those who find knowledge.
- NKJV They are all plain to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge.
- NASB “They are all straightforward to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge.
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's words are clear and right to those who seek understanding. The discerning readily grasp her truth.
Overview
To the person who understands and pursues knowledge, wisdom's words are plain and upright. The teachable heart perceives their rightness, while the unwilling remain blind. The verse reminds us that receiving wisdom requires a humble, seeking spirit ready to embrace the truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 14:6A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.
- John 7:17If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself.
- Jas 1:5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
- Ps 25:12–14What man is he who fears Yahweh? He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose.
- John 6:45It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me.
- Prov 15:24The path of life leads upward for the wise, to keep him from going downward to Sheol.
- Matt 13:11–12He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
- Prov 18:1–2An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.
- Ps 19:7–8Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple.
- Ps 119:98–100Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me.
- Isa 35:8A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
- Prov 15:14The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
- Prov 18:15The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
- Prov 17:24Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.
- 1 Cor 2:14–15Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- Mic 2:7Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: “Is Yahweh’s Spirit angry? Are these his doings? Don’t my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:9 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.