But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
Parallel translations
- WEB But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
- BSB But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
- NKJV But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of hell.
- NASB But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
- NLT But little do they know that the dead are there. Her guests are in the depths of the grave.
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
Folly's victims do not know that the dead are there and her guests are in the depths of Sheol. The path of folly ends in death.
Overview
The chapter closes by unmasking folly's true destination: her house is the realm of the dead. What seemed sweet and secret leads to Sheol, the grave. This stark warning completes the two-ways theme, urging hearers to choose Wisdom's feast of life over Folly's banquet of death, a choice answered finally in Christ, who alone gives life (John 5:24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 7:27Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
- Prov 2:18–19For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
- Prov 5:5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
- Prov 6:26For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
- Prov 1:7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Ps 82:5They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
- 2 Pet 3:5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
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 9:18 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.