Proverbs 1: Two voices are calling you | Bible study
Bad friends call you to come and do wrong, and Wisdom calls you to listen and learn. The voice you choose to follow decides how things turn out for you.
These lessons are for women and men, young and old. When the father says my son or my child, listen as someone who can keep learning, whatever your age or family situation.
Proverbs 1:1
These are the wise sayings of Solomon. He was King David's son, and he was the king of Israel.
These are the proverbs of Solomon, David's son, Israel's king.
This is the title. It tells you who is speaking and why he is worth hearing: the king God gave unmatched wisdom to (1 Kings 3). What follows is royal instruction, not folk sayings.
משל · mishlei / mashal · a comparison
From a root meaning to be like. A mashal sets a truth beside your life so you can see the likeness. It is broader than our word proverb and also covers parables and taunts.
שלמה · Shelomoh · from shalom, peace
His name is built on shalom: peace, wholeness. See 1 Kings 3 and 4:29-34 for how he received and used his wisdom.
In the ancient Near East, kings collected and sponsored wisdom teaching to train the young men who would run the court. Proverbs is that kind of training, opened up to everyone.
Proverbs 1:2
They are here to make you wise and to help you learn when you are corrected. They help you understand wise words.
They are for knowing wisdom and discipline,
The first goal is that you gain skill at living and accept the correction it takes to get it. Wisdom never comes without being corrected.
for understanding words of insight.
The second goal is that you can tell things apart, true from false and wise from foolish, when you hear them.
ידע · yada · know by experience
Knowing by experience and relationship, not just holding information.
חכמה · chokmah · skill
The word used for the craftsmen who built the tabernacle (Exodus 31). Wisdom is skill at living, not IQ.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
Discipline, correction, even chastening. It is paired with wisdom because one does not come without the other.
בין · bin · tell apart
Related to the Hebrew word for between. The ability to distinguish one thing from another.
בינה · binah · insight
The noun from bin: the capacity to see the difference.
Proverbs 1:3
They teach you how to live well, doing what is right and honest and fair.
They are for taking in the discipline that makes you act wisely,
The aim is behavior, not theory. You are meant to come out of this book living differently.
in what is right, just, and fair.
This defines what wise means. It is moral. In Proverbs a clever person who is crooked is not wise at all.
לקח · laqach · take, grasp
To take hold of. Wisdom has to be grasped; it is not absorbed passively.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
The same word as verse 2. Discipline is what you receive; wise conduct is what it produces.
השכל · haskel · practical insight
Insight that shows up as acting well and succeeding at what matters.
צדק · tsedeq · what is right
Conformity to a right standard, God's standard.
משפט · mishpat · right verdicts
Right decisions and judgments, especially in how others are treated.
מישרים · mesharim · straightness, fairness
From yashar, straight or level. Fairness with nothing crooked in it.
Proverbs 1:4
People who are easily tricked can learn from them to be careful. Young people can learn from them to know things and to think ahead.
They give shrewdness to the gullible,
The person who believes anything learns not to be fooled.
and knowledge and foresight to the young.
The young lack experience. This book hands them what others learned the hard way, including the ability to think ahead before acting.
ערמה · ormah · shrewdness
Shares a root with crafty in Genesis 3:1, said of the serpent. The trait is neutral; here it is the good kind, not being easily fooled.
פתי · peti · open, gullible
From patah, to be open. The peti is open to everything, so anyone can lead them. Not yet a fool, but unprotected.
נער · na'ar · young person
The main audience: someone whose direction is not yet set.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
The noun from yada (verse 2): knowledge that comes from experience and relationship.
מזמה · mezimmah · foresight, planning
The ability to think a thing through before doing it.
Older versions say 'the simple'. That is not an insult to intelligence; it means uncommitted and easily led, which is what 'naive' is aiming at.
Proverbs 1:5
Even wise people should listen and learn more. Then they will know how to steer their lives, like steering a boat.
Let the wise listen and add to what they have learned,
The book is not only for beginners. A wise person is someone who keeps listening, so nobody graduates.
and let the discerning get skill in steering.
Life is pictured as a ship. Understanding gives you the ropes to steer it instead of drifting.
שמע · shama · hear and heed
Hebrew does not separate hearing from obeying. To hear is to act on it.
לקח · leqach · what is received
Literally what is received, from the same root as receive in verse 3.
קנה · qanah · get, buy
To get or purchase. It costs something.
תחבלות · tachbulot · steering
From the word for a ship's ropes. Steering skill: the ability to navigate life.
Proverbs 1:6
You will learn to understand wise sayings, and the tricky riddles that make you think hard.
They are for understanding a proverb and a puzzling saying,
You will learn how to read this kind of writing, which says a lot in a few words and must be thought over.
the words of the wise and their riddles.
Some truth is deliberately put in a form that makes you work. The work is how it gets into you.
משל · mashal · a comparison
The same word as the title in verse 1.
מליצה · melitsah · figure, enigma
A saying that needs interpreting; its meaning is not on the surface.
חידה · chidot · hard sayings
The word for Samson's riddle (Judges 14) and the Queen of Sheba's hard questions (1 Kings 10:1).
Proverbs 1:7
Knowing things truly starts with respecting God and taking Him seriously. Foolish people look down on being wise and being taught.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
This is the foundation for the whole book. Real knowledge starts with taking God seriously: reverence, awe, and knowing you answer to Him. Without that starting point, everything else you learn is built on nothing.
fools despise wisdom and discipline.
This is the opposite person. The fool is not someone who cannot learn but someone who looks down on being taught. The verse sets up the two kinds of people the rest of the book contrasts.
יראה · yir'ah · reverent awe
Ranges from trembling to worshipful awe. Taking God with full seriousness.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
Small capitals in English mark God's personal name, given to Israel (Exodus 3). This is not generic religion; it is fear of this particular God.
ראשית · reshit · start and chief part
The same word as Genesis 1:1. It means both the starting point and the most important part.
אויל · evilim / evil · stubborn fool
Moral stubbornness, not low intelligence. This fool has decided not to be taught.
בוז · buz · hold in contempt
To look down on, to treat as beneath you.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
Third time in seven verses. What the fool despises is exactly what verse 2 said the book is for.
Jewish readers do not pronounce the divine name and say Adonai (Lord) instead. English Bibles follow that custom by printing LORD in small capitals wherever the Hebrew has YHWH.
'Beginning' can be heard as only the first step that you later move past. The Hebrew also means the chief part: it is the first thing and stays the main thing.
Proverbs 1:8
Listen, my child, when your dad corrects you. Do not let go of what your mum teaches you.
Listen, my son, to your father's discipline,
The teaching now becomes personal: a parent speaking to a child. The first place God's wisdom reaches you is your home.
and do not abandon your mother's teaching.
The mother's instruction carries equal weight. Abandon implies you already have it; the danger is letting it go as you grow up.
שמע · shema · hear and heed
The same root as hear in verse 5, now as a command.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
The father's part is discipline: correction that shapes.
נטש · natash · abandon, let go
To forsake or leave behind something you once held.
תורה · torah · direction, instruction
From a root meaning to point the way. The mother's teaching is called her torah.
'My son' is how a wisdom teacher addressed a student, but here both parents are named. In Israel the home, not a school, was the first place of instruction, and the mother taught alongside the father.
Proverbs 1:9
What they teach you is like a beautiful crown of flowers on your head and a fine necklace around your neck.
For they are a garland of grace on your head
Your parents' teaching makes you honored and attractive, the opposite of how a young person often sees it.
and chains of honor around your neck.
Obedience is an ornament, not a leash.
לוית חן · livyat chen · garland of grace
Chen is grace or favor. The garland is something that makes its wearer admired.
ענקים · anaqim · neck chains
Ornamental chains worn at the neck.
A wreath was placed on a victor or an honored guest, and a neck chain marked rank, as when Pharaoh put one on Joseph (Genesis 41:42). The picture is public honor.
Proverbs 1:10
My child, when people who do wrong try to get you to join in, say no.
My son, if sinners try to lure you,
If really means when. The father assumes the invitation will come.
do not go along.
The whole defense is one decision made ahead of time: no. It is the shortest line in the chapter, on purpose.
חטאים · chatta'im · habitual sinners
From chata, to miss the mark. The form means people for whom it is a way of life.
פתה · patah · make open, seduce
The same root as naive (peti) in verse 4. Literally, sinners try to make you simple.
אבה · abah · be willing
To be willing. Watch this word return in verses 25 and 30.
Proverbs 1:11
They might say, Come with us! Let's hide and wait, and jump out on someone who has done nothing wrong, and hurt them for no reason.
If they say, Come with us,
The lure starts with belonging: be one of us.
let's lie in wait for blood,
The father puts the ugly truth in their mouths. Real tempters never say it this plainly; he strips off the disguise so the son sees what is actually being offered.
let's ambush some innocent person for no reason.
The victim has done nothing. The violence has no cause except what they can get from it.
ארב · arab · lie in ambush
To lurk in hiding for a victim. Returns in verse 18.
דם · dam · blood, bloodshed
Stands for violent death.
צפן · tsaphan · hide, lurk
To hide in order to strike. Returns in verse 18.
נקי · naqi · clean, guiltless
Someone who has done nothing to deserve it.
חנם · chinnam · for nothing
The word in Job 1:9. It comes back in verse 17 with a twist.
Proverbs 1:12
Let's swallow them up whole, the way the grave does. They will be gone, and nobody will ever see them again.
Let's swallow them alive, like the grave does,
They compare themselves to death itself, which takes people whole and never gives them back. It is a boast of power.
whole, like those who go down to the pit.
The victims will vanish completely, healthy one moment and gone the next. No one will be left to accuse them.
בלע · bala · gulp down
To swallow in one gulp.
שאול · she'ol · the grave
The realm of the dead, pictured as an open mouth that is never full (Proverbs 27:20).
תמימים · temimim · complete, intact
Entire, in full health. Elsewhere the word means blameless.
בור · bor · cistern, grave
A cistern cut in rock; a common picture for the grave.
Sheol is not hell in the later sense. In the Old Testament it is simply where the dead go, a place of silence that takes everyone and returns no one.
Proverbs 1:13
We will get all kinds of treasure. We will fill our houses with the things we steal.
We will find every kind of valuable thing,
Now comes the payoff: easy money.
we will fill our houses with loot.
Loot is the word for war spoil. They make robbery sound like a victory.
הון יקר · hon yaqar · costly riches
Hon is wealth; yaqar is rare and valuable.
שלל · shalal · spoil of war
What soldiers carry off after a battle.
Proverbs 1:14
Come on, join our gang! We will all share the money.
Throw in your lot with us;
Share our risk and our fate. It is a call to commit to the group.
we will all share one purse.
Everyone gets an equal cut. The promise is brotherhood, and it is a lie, since men who kill for money will not stay loyal over money.
גורל · goral · lot, share
The pebble used for casting lots, and so the share that falls to you.
כיס · kis · purse
A single shared purse: common funds.
Lots were cast to divide land, duties and plunder. To throw your lot in with a group meant your portion would now come from whatever the group took.
Proverbs 1:15
My child, do not go along with them. Do not take even one step on their path.
My son, do not walk on the road with them;
The father's answer. Do not even travel in their company. Who you walk with decides where you end up.
keep your foot off their path.
Stop at the first step. It is far easier to refuse the first step than the tenth.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
A road, and so a manner of life. One of the main images of the whole book.
מנע · mana · hold back
To withhold. Restrain your foot before it moves.
נתיבה · netivah · trodden track
A beaten track, worn by those who habitually use it.
Proverbs 1:16
They run to do bad things. They are in a hurry to hurt people.
For their feet run to evil,
The first reason. These people are not drifting into wrong; they are hurrying toward it.
and they hurry to shed blood.
Their direction is fixed, and if you join them it becomes yours.
רוץ · ruts · run
Eagerness, not accident.
רע · ra · bad, harmful
The broad word for what is bad or does harm.
מהר · mahar · hasten
To hurry. This line is quoted in Isaiah 59:7 and by Paul in Romans 3:15.
Proverbs 1:17
It is no use setting a trap while the bird is watching you. The bird will not fly into it.
It is pointless to spread a net
A proverb within the speech. The meaning comes in the next verse.
while the bird is watching.
A bird that sees the trap being set will not fly into it. Even a bird has that much sense.
חנם · chinnam · for nothing
The same word as without cause in verse 11. They attack for nothing, and it comes to nothing.
רשת · reshet · fowler's net
A net laid on the ground with bait to catch birds.
בעל כנף · ba'al kanaph · owner of a wing
Literally owner of a wing, a poetic way of saying any winged creature.
The Hebrew is terse and can be read two ways: a watching bird avoids the net, or a bird sees the net and flies in anyway. Either way the gang is the one that fails to see the trap, as verse 18 says.
Proverbs 1:18
But these people have less sense than a bird. They are hiding and waiting to hurt themselves. The trap they set will catch them.
But these men lie in wait for their own blood;
They have less sense than the bird. They are setting the trap in plain sight, and the one it will catch is themselves.
they ambush their own lives.
The exact words of their plan in verse 11 are turned back on them. The crime destroys the criminal.
ארב · arab · lie in ambush
Repeated from verse 11 on purpose.
צפן · tsaphan · hide, lurk
Repeated from verse 11. The hunter is the prey.
נפש · nephesh · soul, whole self
Not just physical life: the whole person.
Proverbs 1:19
This is how it ends for everyone who cheats or steals to get rich. The things they grabbed take their life away.
This is how it goes for everyone greedy for dishonest gain;
The lesson is widened. It is not only about murder; it applies to anyone who gets wealth by wronging others.
it takes the life of those who get it.
Ill-gotten gain kills its owner. You think you possess it, and it ends up possessing and destroying you.
ארחות · orchot · paths, courses
Another road word: the course a life takes.
בצע · betsa · a cut, a rip-off
From a root meaning to cut off. Profit torn from someone else.
בעלים · be'alim · owners
Owners or masters. The irony is that the loot masters them.
Proverbs 1:20
Wisdom is like a woman shouting in the street. In the open town square she calls out loudly.
Wisdom cries out in the street;
Wisdom is pictured as a woman preaching in public. The point is that wisdom is not hidden or reserved for scholars.
she raises her voice in the open squares.
She is loud and in the widest, most public places. No one can say they never had the chance to hear.
חכמות · chokmot · Wisdom, in full
A plural form, a Hebrew way of showing fullness or majesty. She is personified as a woman.
רנן · ranan · ringing cry
A loud, ringing cry, often used of shouts of joy.
חוץ · chuts · outside
Out of doors, in the open.
רחבות · rechovot · broad places
The wide open plazas where people gathered.
Proverbs 1:21
On the busiest, noisiest corners she calls. At the city gates, where everybody goes by, she says:
At the head of the busy streets she calls;
She stands where the crowd and the noise are, competing with everything else that wants your attention.
at the city gates she speaks her words:
Wisdom speaks into everyday decisions, not only religious moments.
המיות · homiyot · bustling, roaring
The roar of a crowded place.
שערים · she'arim · city gates
The place of public business and judgment.
The city gate was the courthouse, marketplace and council hall in one. Elders sat there, contracts were witnessed there (Ruth 4), and cases were tried there. Wisdom stands where life is actually decided.
Proverbs 1:22
You who believe anything, how long will you love being like that? How long will you others enjoy making fun, and how long will fools hate to learn?
How long, you gullible, will you love being gullible?
The first group. They enjoy staying uncommitted and unserious. How long means she has been patient and the patience has a limit.
How long will mockers enjoy their mocking,
The second group, a step worse: people who sneer at correction and like doing it.
and fools hate knowledge?
The third group, the hardened: they actively hate the truth. The three are a slide, from careless to cynical to hostile.
עד מתי · ad matay · until when?
A cry of patience running out, common in the Psalms.
פתים · petayim · open, gullible
The peti of verse 4, who now loves being that way.
לצים · letsim · mockers
The lets sneers at correction and cannot be taught (Proverbs 9:7-8).
חמד · chamad · desire, covet
The covet of the tenth commandment. They crave their mockery.
כסילים · kesilim · dull, thick fools
Thick, dull and self-confident. A different word from the fool of verse 7.
שנא · sane · hate
Active hostility. Returns in verse 29.
'Simplistic thinking' translates the noun form of peti. The line is literally: how long will you open ones love openness?
Proverbs 1:23
Turn around when I tell you that you are wrong. Then I will pour out my heart to you and help you understand my words.
Turn back at my correction;
The invitation. The door is still open, and the way through it is accepting that you were wrong.
look, I will pour out my spirit to you;
If you turn, she gives herself freely, like a spring gushing.
I will make my words known to you.
Understanding is given to those who accept correction. It is not earned by cleverness.
שוב · shuv · turn back, repent
The Old Testament's main word for repent. Watch for it in verse 32.
תוכחת · tokachat · correction
Correction that shows you were wrong.
נבע · naba · gush forth
To bubble up and gush like a spring.
רוח · ruach · breath, wind, spirit
Breath, wind or spirit. Her inner mind and heart.
Ruach can mean spirit or breath, so some versions have 'pour out my thoughts' or 'my heart'. The sense is the same: she holds nothing back from the one who turns.
Proverbs 1:24
I called you, but you said no. I held out my hand to you, but nobody took any notice.
But since I called and you refused,
The tone changes. The offer was made and turned down.
I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention,
She did everything, reaching out like someone pleading, and was ignored.
קרא · qara · call
To call out, to summon. Reversed in verse 28.
מאן · ma'en · refuse
A flat refusal.
נטה יד · natah yad · reach out
A gesture of appeal, beckoning someone to come.
קשב · qashav · prick up the ears
To listen alertly.
Proverbs 1:25
You brushed off everything I told you, and you did not want me to correct you.
since you brushed aside all my advice
They did not argue with it; they just let it go as if it did not matter.
and would not have my correction,
The core problem again: unwillingness to be corrected.
פרע · para · let loose
To let go, to throw off restraint. The word in Proverbs 29:18.
עצה · etsah · counsel
Counsel, a considered plan.
אבה · lo abah · were not willing
The word of verse 10. They were told not to be willing toward sinners; instead they were unwilling toward Wisdom.
תוכחת · tokachat · correction
The correction offered in verse 23, declined.
Proverbs 1:26
So when big trouble comes to you, I will laugh. When the thing you are scared of happens, I will make fun.
I in turn will laugh at your disaster;
This sounds harsh, but it is justice matching the offense. They mocked wisdom; when the consequences land, wisdom has nothing left to offer them but the absurdity of what they chose.
I will mock when what you dread arrives,
The thing they feared comes, and the truth they laughed at stands vindicated.
שחק · sachaq · laugh
The mockers of verse 22 receive what they gave.
איד · eyd · calamity
Ruin that overtakes a person.
לעג · la'ag · deride
To deride.
פחד · pachad · terror
Terror, and the thing that causes it.
Hebrew poetry speaks in strong pictures. Wisdom's laughter is not cruelty; it is the personified truth standing unmoved when the people who sneered at it meet what it warned about.
Proverbs 1:27
It will hit you like a storm and sweep in like a spinning wind. Trouble and pain will squeeze you tight.
when your dread comes like a storm
Consequences arrive suddenly and with force, not gradually.
and your disaster sweeps in like a whirlwind,
You cannot outrun or bargain with a whirlwind. The time to prepare was before.
when trouble and anguish come upon you.
The words mean being squeezed with no room to move. This is where ignoring wisdom ends.
פחד · pachad · terror
Repeated from verse 26.
שואה · sho'ah · devastation
A devastating storm, ruin that crashes in.
סופה · suphah · storm wind
A sweeping gale.
צרה · tsarah · a tight place
From a root meaning narrow. Hemmed in.
צוקה · tsuqah · pressure
Being pressed and constrained.
Proverbs 1:28
Then they will call for me, but I will not answer. They will look hard for me, but they will not find me.
Then they will call me, but I will not answer;
The roles reverse from verse 24. Notice she now says they instead of you: she has stopped addressing them.
they will look hard for me and not find me,
Wisdom cannot be grabbed in the moment of crisis. It has to be built beforehand. You cannot get in an emergency what you refused for years.
קרא · qara · call
She called in verse 24; now they call.
ענה · anah · answer
They did not answer her; she does not answer them.
שחר · shachar · seek at dawn
To seek early and earnestly. Earnest, but too late.
Proverbs 1:29
That is because they hated learning. They chose not to respect God.
because they hated knowledge
The reason is given. This is not bad luck; it is the result of what they loved and hated.
and did not choose the fear of the LORD.
This ties back to verse 7. Fearing God is a choice, and they chose against it.
שנא · sane · hate
Repeats the charge of verse 22.
בחר · bachar · choose
To select deliberately. The fear of the LORD is chosen.
יראה · yir'ah · reverent awe
The foundation of verse 7, refused.
Proverbs 1:30
My advice was not what they wanted. Every time I tried to correct them, they pushed it away.
They would not have my advice;
She repeats the charge of verse 25 so it is unmistakable.
they spurned all my correction.
Their ruin has one cause: refusing correction.
אבה · abah · be willing
The third use of this word.
עצה · etsah · counsel
Her counsel, refused; see what replaces it in verse 31.
נאץ · na'ats · spurn
To spurn with contempt.
תוכחת · tokachat · correction
Third time: offered in 23, unwanted in 25, spurned here.
Proverbs 1:31
So they will have to eat the fruit that grows from living their own way. They will be stuffed full of their own plans until they feel sick.
So they will eat the fruit of their own way
The punishment is simply the harvest. What they planted grows, and they must eat it.
and be stuffed full of their own plans.
They wanted their own counsel instead of hers, so they get it until they are sick of it. God's judgment here is giving people what they insisted on.
פרי · peri · fruit, produce
What a thing naturally yields.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The road of verse 15, now at harvest.
שבע · saba · glutted
Sated to the point of sickness.
מועצות · mo'etsot · their own counsels
From the same root as advice (etsah) in verses 25 and 30. They refused her counsel and are force-fed their own.
Proverbs 1:32
People who believe anything turn away from me, and it will kill them. Fools feel fine as they are, so they never change, and that will destroy them.
For the turning away of the gullible will kill them,
The naive person from verse 4 could have been helped. But staying uncommitted is itself a turning away, and it is fatal.
and the easy comfort of fools will destroy them.
The fool feels fine. That feeling of security is exactly what keeps them from changing, so it is what destroys them.
משובה · meshuvah · turning away
From shuv. Verse 23 said turn to me; they turned the other way.
פתים · petayim · open, gullible
The last appearance: the open one who never chose.
הרג · harag · slay
To kill outright.
שלוה · shalvah · careless ease
Ease and prosperity that breed carelessness.
כסילים · kesilim · dull, thick fools
The kesil of verse 22.
אבד · abad · perish, ruin
To bring to ruin.
'Faithlessness' hides the wordplay. The Hebrew is 'turning away', the same verb as 'turn' in verse 23. Other versions have 'waywardness' or 'turning away'.
Proverbs 1:33
But whoever listens to me will live in safety. They will be calm, with no need to be afraid of being hurt.
But whoever listens to me will live in safety
The sermon ends with a promise. One thing separates the two outcomes: listening.
and be at ease, without dread of harm.
The terror that hits the fool in verses 26 and 27 does not hang over the one who listens. This is real ease, in contrast to the false ease of verse 32.
שמע · shama · hear and heed
The word of verses 5 and 8. The chapter closes where it opened.
שכן · shakan · settle, dwell
To settle down and dwell. The root of the word for tabernacle.