Proverbs 8 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

The Blessings of Wisdom

Pro 8:1

Pro 8:1Does not wisdom call?
Does not understanding raise her voice?

Pro 8:2

Pro 8:2On the heights beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;

Pro 8:3

Pro 8:3beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:

Pro 8:4

Pro 8:4“To you, O men, I call,
and my cry is to the children of man.

Pro 8:5

Pro 8:5O simple ones, learn prudence;
O fools, learn sense.

Pro 8:6

Pro 8:6Hear, for I will speak noble things,
and from my lips will come what is right,

Pro 8:7

Pro 8:7for my mouth will utter truth;
wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

Pro 8:8

Pro 8:8All the words of my mouth are righteous;
there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

Pro 8:9

Pro 8:9They are all straight to him who understands,
and right to those who find knowledge.

Pro 8:10

Pro 8:10Take my instruction instead of silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold,

Pro 8:11

Pro 8:11for wisdom is better than jewels,
and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Pro 8:12

Pro 8:12“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.

Pro 8:13

Pro 8:13The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.

Pro 8:14

Pro 8:14I have counsel and sound wisdom;
I have insight; I have strength.

Pro 8:15

Pro 8:15By me kings reign,
and rulers decree what is just;

Pro 8:16

Pro 8:16by me princes rule,
and nobles, all who govern justly.[fn]

Pro 8:17

Pro 8:17I love those who love me,
and those who seek me diligently find me.

Pro 8:18

Pro 8:18Riches and honor are with me,
enduring wealth and righteousness.

Pro 8:19

Pro 8:19My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,
and my yield than choice silver.

Pro 8:20

Pro 8:20I walk in the way of righteousness,
in the paths of justice,

Pro 8:21

Pro 8:21granting an inheritance to those who love me,
and filling their treasuries.

Pro 8:22

Pro 8:22“The LORD possessed[fn] me at the beginning of his work,[fn]
the first of his acts of old.

Pro 8:23

Pro 8:23Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

Pro 8:24

Pro 8:24When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.

Pro 8:25

Pro 8:25Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,

Pro 8:26

Pro 8:26before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.

Pro 8:27

Pro 8:27When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

Pro 8:28

Pro 8:28when he made firm the skies above,
when he established[fn] the fountains of the deep,

Pro 8:29

Pro 8:29when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

Pro 8:30

Pro 8:30then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his[fn] delight,
rejoicing before him always,

Pro 8:31

Pro 8:31rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.

Pro 8:32

Pro 8:32“And now, O sons, listen to me:
blessed are those who keep my ways.

Pro 8:33

Pro 8:33Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.

Pro 8:34

Pro 8:34Blessed is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.

Pro 8:35

Pro 8:35For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the LORD,

Pro 8:36

Pro 8:36but he who fails to find me injures himself;
all who hate me love death.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(8:16)

Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint govern the earth

(8:22)

Or fathered; Septuagint created

(8:22)

Hebrew way

(8:28)

The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

(8:30)

Or daily filled with

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