1 Does not wisdom call out, and prudence bestow her voice? 2 At the summits and the tops of exalted places, standing above the ways, in the midst of the paths, 3 beside the gates of the city, at the very doors, she speaks, saying: 4 “O men, to you I call out, and my voice is to the sons of men. 5 O little ones, understand discernment. And you who are unwise, turn your souls. 6 Listen, for I will speak about great things, and my lips will be opened, so as to foretell what is right. 7 My throat shall practice truth, and my lips shall detest the impious. 8 All my words are just. There is no depravity in them, and no perversity. 9 They are upright to those who understand, and equitable to those who discover knowledge. 10 Accept my discipline, and not money. Choose the doctrine that is greater than gold. 11 For wisdom is better than all that is most precious, and everything that is desirable cannot compare to her. 12 I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and I am inside learned thoughts. 13 The fear of the Lord hates evil. I detest arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue. 14 Counsel is mine, and equity. Prudence is mine. Strength is mine. 15 Through me, kings reign and legislators decree just conditions. 16 Through me, princes rule and the powerful decree justice. 17 I love those who love me. And those who stand watch for me until morning shall discover me. 18 With me, are wealth and glory, superb riches and justice. 19 For my fruit is better than gold and precious stones, and my progeny better than choice silver. 20 I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment, 21 so that I may enrich those who love me, and thus complete their treasures. 22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything, from the beginning. 23 I was ordained from eternity, and out of antiquity, before the earth was formed. 24 The abyss did not yet exist, and I was already conceived; neither had the fountains of waters yet erupted. 25 The mountains, with their great mass, had not yet been established. Before the hills, I was brought forth. 26 Still he had not made the earth, and the rivers, and the poles of the globe of the earth. 27 I was already present: when he prepared the heavens; when, with a certain law and a circuit, he fortified the abyss; 28 when he made firm the sky above, and set free the fountains of waters; 29 when he encompassed the sea within its limits, and laid down a law for the waters, lest they transgress their limits; when he weighed the foundations of the earth. 30 I was with him in composing all things. And I was delighted, throughout every day, by playing in his sight at all times, 31 playing in globe of the earth. And my delight was to be with the sons of men. 32 Therefore, sons, hear me now. Blessed are those who preserve my ways. 33 Listen to discipline, and become wise, and do not be willing to cast it aside. 34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, and who stands watch at my gates every day, and who observes at the posts of my doors. 35 He who finds me, finds life, and he will draw salvation from the Lord. 36 But he who sins against me will wound his own soul. All who hate me love death.”
Proverbs · Catholic Public Domain Version
Proverbs 8 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
Cross references (34)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Proverbs 1:20–21; Matthew 3:3; John 7:37; Proverbs 9:1–3; Acts 1:8
- 2 Proverbs 9:14; Proverbs 9:3
- 3 Job 29:7; Luke 14:21–23; Matthew 22:9; Acts 5:20; John 18:20
- 4 Matthew 11:15; Psalm 50:1; John 3:16; Psalm 49:1–3; Revelation 22:17
- 5 Proverbs 1:22; Acts 26:18; Proverbs 9:4; Revelation 3:17–18; 1 Corinthians 6:9–11
- 6 Colossians 1:26; Matthew 7:28–29; Matthew 13:35; Proverbs 4:2; Proverbs 23:16
- 7 Psalm 37:30; John 8:14; John 17:17; Proverbs 12:22; Job 36:4
- 8 John 7:46; Proverbs 8:13; Psalm 12:6; Deuteronomy 32:5; Isaiah 45:23
- 9 Proverbs 14:6; James 1:5; John 7:17; Psalm 25:12–14; John 6:45
- 10 Proverbs 2:4–5; Psalm 119:127; Psalm 119:72; Proverbs 23:23; Proverbs 3:13–15
- 11 Proverbs 3:14–15; Proverbs 4:5–7; Proverbs 16:16; Psalm 119:127; Psalm 19:10
- 12 Isaiah 28:26; Exodus 35:30–36:4; Exodus 31:3–6; Romans 11:33; Proverbs 1:4
- 13 Psalm 97:10; Proverbs 16:6; 1 Samuel 2:3; Proverbs 4:24; 1 Thessalonians 5:22
- 14 Ecclesiastes 7:19; Isaiah 9:6; Romans 11:33–34; Isaiah 40:14; Ecclesiastes 9:16–18
- 15 Romans 13:1; Daniel 2:21; Matthew 28:18; Revelation 19:16; Daniel 7:13–14
- 17 John 14:23; John 14:21; Psalm 91:14; Isaiah 55:6; 1 John 4:19
- 18 Proverbs 3:16; Matthew 6:33; Luke 16:11–12; Philippians 4:19; Ephesians 3:8
- 19 Proverbs 3:14; Proverbs 10:20; Ecclesiastes 7:12; Proverbs 8:10
- 20 John 10:27–28; Psalm 32:8; Deuteronomy 5:32; Proverbs 4:11–12; Proverbs 6:22
- 21 1 Peter 1:4; Proverbs 24:4; Genesis 15:14; Matthew 25:46; Hebrews 10:34
- 22 Colossians 1:17; John 1:1–2; Proverbs 3:19; Psalm 104:24; Job 28:26–28
- 23 John 17:24; John 17:5; Genesis 1:26; Micah 5:2; Psalm 2:6
- 24 Proverbs 3:20; 1 John 4:9; Genesis 1:2; Hebrews 1:5; John 5:20
- 25 Psalm 90:2; Job 15:7–8; Job 38:4–11; Psalm 102:25–28; Hebrews 1:10
- 26 Genesis 1:1–31
- 27 Isaiah 40:22; Job 26:10; Proverbs 3:19; Psalm 136:5; Colossians 1:16
- 29 Psalm 104:9; Jeremiah 5:22; Genesis 1:9–10; Psalm 33:7; Psalm 104:5
- 30 John 1:1–3; John 1:18; Matthew 3:17; John 16:28; Isaiah 42:1
- 31 Psalm 16:3; John 13:1; Psalm 40:6–8; 2 Corinthians 8:9; John 4:34
- 32 Luke 11:28; Psalm 119:1–2; Psalm 128:1; Psalm 1:1–4; Proverbs 5:7
- 33 Proverbs 4:1; Psalm 81:11–12; Proverbs 1:8; Proverbs 5:1; Proverbs 1:2–3
- 34 Matthew 7:24; Luke 11:28; Proverbs 3:13; Psalm 27:4; Acts 2:42
- 35 John 3:36; 1 John 5:11–12; Proverbs 12:2; Philippians 3:8; John 17:3
- 36 Proverbs 15:32; Proverbs 1:31; John 15:23–24; 1 Corinthians 16:22; Proverbs 12:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth." And again: "When He prepared the heaven, I was with Him, and when He established …
"Who shall deliver him from the body of this death," but Thy grace only, "through Jesus Christ our Lord,'" whom Thou hast begotten co-eternal, and createdst in the beginning of Thy ways, in whom the Prince of this world found nothing worthy of death, yet killed he Him, and the handwriting which was contrary to us was blotted out?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
In their eyes the following is only too ready to hand "The Lord created me at the beginning of His ways with a view to His works." How shall we meet this?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
But others, though future, are put in the past tense, as, for instance, This is our God: Therefore He was seen upon the earth and dwelt among men, and The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways for His works, and Wherefore God, thy God, anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows, and such …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)
I was He in whom He rejoiced, and throughout all time I was daily glad before His face, when He rejoiced at the completion of the world, and was delighted in the sons of men."