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Christianity

Proverbs 2Seeking Wisdom as Treasure

Summary

Proverbs 2 opens with one long conditional sentence in Hebrew: if the son receives his father's words, cries out for understanding and searches for wisdom like silver or hidden treasure, then he will understand the fear of the LORD. Wisdom is God's gift, coming from his mouth. It will guard the son from men who speak perverse things and from the strange woman whose house leads down to death, keeping him on the path of the upright.

Key verse

“For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”

Proverbs 2:6

Themes

  • Searching for Wisdom
  • Wisdom as Gift
  • Protection
  • Two Paths

Text

1

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2

So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

3

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4

If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

6

For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

7

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

8

He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

9

Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

10

When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11

Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

12

To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

13

Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14

Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

15

Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

16

To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

17

Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

18

For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

19

None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

20

That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21

For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

  • Islam

    Surah Al-Baqarah (2): He Giveth Wisdom

    Quran 2:269 says God gives wisdom to whom he wills, and whoever is given wisdom has received abundant good. Like Proverbs 2:6, wisdom is a divine gift rather than merely human achievement.

  • Christianity

    Job 28: Where Shall Wisdom Be Found

    Job 28 describes miners digging for silver and gold yet unable to find wisdom, which only God knows, ending with the fear of the Lord as wisdom. It shares the treasure imagery of Proverbs 2.

  • Christianity

    James 1: Ask God for Wisdom

    James 1:5 promises that anyone lacking wisdom can ask God, who gives liberally, echoing the claim of Proverbs 2:6 that the LORD gives wisdom.

Questions about Proverbs 2

Who is the strange woman in Proverbs?

The KJV's strange woman, in Proverbs 2:16 and later chapters, refers to an adulterous or foreign woman outside the covenant of marriage. Some interpreters also read her as a symbol of folly opposed to Wisdom.

Does Proverbs say wisdom comes from God or from effort?

Both. Proverbs 2:1 to 5 calls for diligent searching like a treasure hunt, and 2:6 says the LORD gives wisdom. Effort and grace work together in the chapter.