Proverbs 9

General context

Wisdom has built her house and hewn out her seven pillars; she has killed her beasts, mingled her wine, furnished her table and sent forth her maidens, and she cries on the highest places of the city. Her invitation is quoted: whoever is simple, let him turn in here, and to him that lacks understanding she says, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled; forsake the foolish, and live, and go in the way of understanding. A run of sayings follows. He that reproves a scorner gets shame, and he that rebukes a wicked man gets a blot; the hearer is told not to reprove a scorner, lest he hate him, but to rebuke a wise man, who will love him, and to teach a just man, who will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. A first-person line says that by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the next says that the wise is wise for himself, and the scorner alone shall bear it. Then a foolish woman is described: she is clamorous, simple and knows nothing; she sits at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city, calling passengers who go right on their ways, with the same words, whoever is simple, let him turn in here. To him that lacks understanding she says that stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. The chapter ends by saying he does not know that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

Cited passages: Proverbs 9:1, Proverbs 9:2, Proverbs 9:3, Proverbs 9:4, Proverbs 9:5, Proverbs 9:6, Proverbs 9:7, Proverbs 9:8, Proverbs 9:9, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 9:11, Proverbs 9:12, Proverbs 9:13, Proverbs 9:14, Proverbs 9:15, Proverbs 9:16, Proverbs 9:17, Proverbs 9:18

Proverbs 9 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

Two women speak in this chapter. The first is Wisdom, the personified figure of chapters 1 and 8, and the second is called only "A foolish woman"; the text does not call her the strange woman of chapters 2, 5, 6 and 7, and it gives her no name, city or household beyond her house and her seat. The middle verses, 7 to 12, are not marked as anyone's speech. Verse 11 says "by me thy days shall be multiplied", which is first person and fits Wisdom's voice, but the chapter does not say where her invitation ends or whether verses 7 to 10 belong to her or to the narrator. The "seven pillars" and the "maidens" are stated without explanation, and "the knowledge of the holy" is not defined. The last verse, about the dead and the depths of hell, is the narrator's statement about what the guest does not know, not part of the foolish woman's words. The saying that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" differs in wording from 1:7, where the fear of the Lord is "the beginning of knowledge". This chapter closes the run of discourses; the next verse, 10:1, opens a new collection with its own heading.

Cited passages: Proverbs 9:13, Proverbs 9:11, Proverbs 9:1, Proverbs 9:3, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 9:18, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 10:1

Literary context

The chapter is built as a pair of matched houses. Wisdom cries "upon the highest places of the city" and the foolish woman sits "in the high places of the city"; each addresses the simple with the identical sentence, "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither", and each turns to "him that wanteth understanding". Each offers food and drink: Wisdom's bread and mingled wine against stolen waters and bread eaten in secret. The outcomes are set against each other, "live" in the last verse of Wisdom's call and "the dead" in the last verse of the foolish woman's. The preparation differs: Wisdom is the subject of a chain of completed actions, builded, hewn, killed, mingled, furnished, sent forth, while the foolish woman only "sitteth at the door of her house" and calls. Between the two houses stands a block of antithetic sayings that turn on the scorner, named in verses 7 and 8 and addressed in verse 12 ("if thou scornest"), and on the difference between reproving a scorner and rebuking a wise man. The final word, "hell", matches the ending of 7:27, where the strange woman's house is "the way to hell", so the two women of chapter 9 gather up the contrast the earlier chapters drew between Wisdom's call and the woman who waits at the door.

Cited passages: Proverbs 9:3, Proverbs 9:14, Proverbs 9:4, Proverbs 9:16, Proverbs 9:5, Proverbs 9:17, Proverbs 9:6, Proverbs 9:18, Proverbs 9:2, Proverbs 9:7, Proverbs 9:12, Proverbs 7:27

Key moments

1. Wisdom builds her house (Proverbs 9:1). Wisdom is said to have built her house and hewn out seven pillars.
2. Come, eat of my bread (Proverbs 9:5). Wisdom invites the simple to eat her bread and drink her mingled wine.
3. Rebuke a wise man (Proverbs 9:8). The hearer is told not to reprove a scorner but to rebuke a wise man, who will love him.
4. The beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). The fear of the Lord is named the beginning of wisdom.
5. A foolish woman (Proverbs 9:13). A clamorous, simple woman who knows nothing is introduced.
6. Stolen waters are sweet (Proverbs 9:17). The foolish woman says stolen waters are sweet and secret bread is pleasant.
7. The dead are there (Proverbs 9:18). The narrator says her guest does not know the dead are in her house.

For reflection

Both women in the chapter say the same words to the simple: "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither." If the invitations sound alike, what in the chapter would let a passer-by tell one house from the other before going in?