Two ladies invite you to their houses. Wisdom has made a real feast, and going to her leads to life. Foolishness only offers stolen things, and her house leads to death. You have to choose which one to listen to.
Proverbs 9:1
Wisdom has built her house. It is big and strong, with seven stone pillars she cut herself.
Wisdom has built her house;
The scene opens with work already finished. Wisdom is a householder with a permanent place, ready to receive guests, not a wandering voice.
she has cut out its seven pillars.
The second line shows the scale. A house with seven hewn stone pillars is large and solid, with room for many. She did the work herself.
חכמות · chokmot · Wisdom, in full
The plural form of chokmah, used as in 1:20 to show fullness or majesty. It still takes a singular verb: she built.
בנה · banah · build
To build. In 14:1 the wise woman builds her house and the foolish one tears hers down.
בית · bayit · house, household
A house and the household in it. Folly also has a house, in verse 14.
חצב · chatsav · hew, quarry
To cut stone or hew out of rock. These are stone pillars, quarried and shaped.
עמוד · ammud · pillar, column
An upright column holding up a roof.
Larger Israelite houses used rows of stone pillars to hold up the roof around a central space. Seven is the regular biblical number for completeness, so seven pillars describe a house that is fully finished and spacious. The text does not say the pillars stand for seven particular things.
Proverbs 9:2
She has cooked the meat, made the drinks ready, and set the table for a feast.
She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine,
She prepares a banquet. Meat and prepared wine were festival food, not everyday fare, so this is a generous meal at her own cost.
and she has also laid her table.
The last step. Everything is ready before a single guest is invited; nothing is asked of them but to come.
טבח · tavach · slaughter
Literally she has slaughtered her slaughter: she has killed animals for meat.
מסך · masak · mix, blend
To mix a drink. The verb returns in verse 5.
יין · yayin · wine
The ordinary word for wine, the drink of a feast.
ערך · arak · arrange in order
To lay out in order. Psalm 23:5 uses the same verb and noun for God preparing a table.
שלחן · shulchan · table
The table at which guests are served.
Most people in ancient Israel ate meat only at feasts and sacrifices. Wine was mixed before serving, either with spices and honey to make it richer or with water. Either way, mixing it was part of getting a banquet ready.
Proverbs 9:3
Now she sends her helpers out with the invitation. She calls from the highest place in town:
She has sent out her servant girls; she calls
With the meal ready, she invites. She uses messengers and her own voice, so the invitation goes out as widely as possible.
from the highest points of the town:
She calls from where the whole town can hear. Remember this location; Folly takes up the same position in verse 14.
שלח · shalach · send
To send on an errand.
נערה · na'arah · young woman, maid
Young women in her service. A great lady's household maids carry the invitation.
קרא · qara · call, invite
To call out, and also to invite a guest. Both senses are active in this chapter.
מרום · marom · high place
The elevated part of the town, as in 8:2.
קרת · qeret · town
The rare poetic word for town used in 8:3.
Proverbs 9:4
Come in here, anyone who does not know much yet! To those who have no sense she says:
'Whoever is gullible, let him turn aside and come in here!'
The guest list is surprising. She does not invite the deserving but the naive, the person who has not yet chosen a direction. The invitation is to leave the road and come into her house.
To the one who has no sense she says,
The same person is described a second way, as lacking a mind for these things. Her offer is aimed precisely at the lack.
פתי · peti · open, gullible
From a root meaning to be open. Open to anything, so both women go after him.
סור · sur · turn aside
To turn off one's course. The same verb usually means turning away from evil (3:7); here it is turning in to a house.
חסר לב · chasar lev · lacking heart
Literally lacking heart. The heart is the place of thought and decision, so this is someone short on judgment. It described the young man of 7:7.
Proverbs 9:5
Come and eat my food. Come and enjoy the drink I made for you.
'Come, eat my food,
The meal stands for her teaching. To eat is to take it in so that it becomes part of you, which is more than hearing it.
and drink the wine I have mixed.
The partner line completes the meal. She stresses that she mixed it herself: what she offers is her own and honestly prepared, unlike the stolen water of verse 17.
לחם · lacham · eat
A verb from the same root as lechem, bread, so verb and noun match in Hebrew.
לחם · lechem · bread, food
Bread, and so food in general. Folly offers lechem too, in verse 17.
שתה · shatah · drink
The ordinary word for drinking.
מסך · masak · mix, blend
The verb of verse 2. The wine she prepared there is now served.
Proverbs 9:6
Leave your silly ways behind and you will live. Walk on the road of good sense.
Leave gullibility behind and live;
Here the picture is dropped and she says plainly what coming to her table means. The naive must give up being naive. Staying uncommitted is not an option, and the reward for leaving it is life.
walk straight ahead on the way of understanding.'
Leaving is followed by a direction. It is not enough to quit the old state; there is a road to walk, and it is the road of discernment.
עזב · azav · leave, forsake
To leave behind. Elsewhere the son is told not to forsake teaching (4:2); here is something he must forsake.
פתי · peti · gullibility, the gullible
The Hebrew is the plural of peti, the word of verse 4. It is not one of the stronger words for folly.
חיה · chayah · live
A command that works as a promise: do this and you will live.
אשר · ashar · go straight on
To step forward, to go straight. Related to ashrei, the word for the happy person in 8:32.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
A road, and so a way of life.
בינה · binah · insight
The ability to tell things apart. It is defined in verse 10.
The first line can be read 'leave naivete' or 'leave the naive', that is, leave the company of gullible people. The Hebrew word is plural and allows both; NASB takes the first.
Proverbs 9:7
Tell someone who makes fun of everything that he is wrong, and you only get mocked. Tell a bad person he is wrong, and he will call you names.
Whoever disciplines a mocker brings shame on himself,
The subject changes to how different people take correction. Try to correct a scoffer and he will turn on you with abuse. The correction does him no good and costs you.
and whoever rebukes a wicked person gets hurt himself.
The same result with the wicked. The reprover comes away marked. This explains why Wisdom's invitation, though open, does not reach everyone: some will not have it.
יסר · yasar · discipline, correct
The verb behind musar, discipline.
לץ · lets · mocker
The person who sneers at correction and at those who give it. One of the three groups addressed in 1:22.
קלון · qalon · shame, disgrace
Public disgrace, the opposite of kavod, honor.
יכח · yakach · reprove, set right
To show someone they are wrong. The root of tokachat, the rebuke Wisdom offered in 1:23.
רשע · rasha · wicked, guilty
One who is in the wrong and intends to stay there.
מום · mum · blemish, injury
A blemish or physical defect. Literally the rebuker gets his blemish: he comes away with a mark on him.
The last phrase is literally 'his blemish'. It may mean the reprover is stained or hurt by the encounter, or that the wicked man's fault gets pinned on him. NASB's 'insults' is an interpretation of the first.
Proverbs 9:8
So don't bother correcting people who make fun of everything. They will hate you for it. Correct a wise person, and they will love you.
Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you;
Practical advice drawn from verse 7. Correcting a scoffer only produces hatred, so do not spend correction on him.
rebuke a wise person and he will love you.
The contrast. The same act produces the opposite reaction in a wise person. How someone responds to being told they are wrong shows which of the two they are.
יכח · yakach · reprove, set right
The verb of verse 7, used in both halves of this verse.
לץ · lets · mocker
The lets of verse 7.
שנא · sane · hate
Active hostility. In 8:36 those who hate Wisdom love death; the scoffer hates her messengers too.
חכם · chakam · wise person
Someone with skill at living. Here the mark of that skill is welcoming rebuke.
אהב · ahav · love
The wise count the one who corrects them as a friend.
Proverbs 9:9
Teach a wise person and they get even wiser. Teach someone who does right and they learn even more.
Give to a wise person and he will become wiser still;
The Hebrew says only 'give', without saying what. Whatever you give the wise, whether teaching or rebuke, they put to use. Wisdom grows in those who already have some.
inform a righteous person and he will add to what he has learned.
The partner line uses 'righteous' where the first had 'wise'. In Proverbs these are the same person seen from two sides: the wise live rightly, and those who live rightly keep learning.
נתן · natan · give
The Hebrew has no object. NASB supplies instruction.
חכם · chakam · be wise
The verb from the same root as wise person. The wise become more so.
ידע · yada · cause to know
The causing form of yada, to know: make something known to him.
צדיק · tsaddiq · one in the right
A person who lives by the right standard. Set here as the parallel to wise.
יסף · yasaph · add
To add. The verb returns in verse 11, where years are added.
לקח · leqach · what is received
Learning, literally what has been taken in. The line closely echoes 1:5.
Proverbs 9:10
Being wise starts with respecting God. Knowing God, the Holy One, is how you come to understand things.
The first step in wisdom is the fear of the LORD,
This is the centre of the chapter and repeats the foundation laid in 1:7. It explains why the scoffer cannot learn and the wise can: wisdom starts with reverence for God, and the scoffer reveres nothing.
and knowing the Holy One is understanding.
The second line defines understanding as a relationship. Insight is not mainly about cleverness; it is knowing God personally.
יראה · yir'ah · reverent awe
Taking God with full seriousness, as in 1:7 and 8:13.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
God's personal name. Wisdom begins with this God in particular.
תחלה · techillah · starting point
A different word from reshit in 1:7. Techillah means the first step in a sequence, the place you start from.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
Knowledge by acquaintance, from yada. Knowing a person, not knowing about one.
קדשים · qedoshim · the Holy One
The plural of qadosh, holy. It is set parallel to the LORD, so it is taken as a plural of majesty for God, as in 30:3.
בינה · binah · insight
The destination of the road in verse 6.
The Hebrew word is plural, 'holy ones'. Because it stands parallel to the LORD, most versions read it as a title of God, the Holy One. A few older interpreters took it as 'knowledge of holy things'.
Proverbs 9:11
Wisdom says, I will give you more days to live. I will add years to your life.
For through me your days will be many,
Wisdom is speaking again, as the 'me' shows. This gives the result of the wisdom just defined: a longer life.
and years of life will be added to you.
The same promise in larger units, years instead of days. This fills in the bare command 'live' from verse 6. Proverbs states it as the general pattern, since wise living avoids much of what cuts life short.
יום · yom · day
The ordinary word for day.
רבה · ravah · become many
To increase in number.
חיים · chayyim · life
Life in the full sense, the thing found by whoever finds Wisdom in 8:35.
יסף · yasaph · add
The verb of verse 9. The one who adds learning has years added.
Proverbs 9:12
If you are wise, you are the one it helps. If you make fun of what is right, you are the one who gets hurt.
If you are wise, your wisdom is for your own good,
You are the first to benefit from your own wisdom. Nobody can be wise on your behalf, and the gain is yours.
and if you mock, you alone will carry it.
The contrast. The scoffer bears the cost of his scoffing by himself. Each person answers for which of the two they became, which is the choice the two invitations put before the reader.
חכם · chakam · be wise
The verb is used twice in the line: if you have become wise, you have become wise for yourself.
ליץ · lits · mock
The verb behind lets, the scoffer of verses 7 and 8.
לבד · levad · by yourself
By yourself, apart. The scoffer who drove off everyone who corrected him ends up on his own.
נשא · nasa · carry, bear
To lift and carry. The regular verb for bearing guilt or its consequences.
Proverbs 9:13
There is another woman, and her name is Foolishness. She is loud, and she knows nothing at all.
The woman Folly is loud;
The second hostess is introduced. Her first trait is noise. Where Wisdom was shown working (building, preparing, sending), Folly is shown only making a commotion.
she is gullibility itself and knows nothing at all.
Her second trait is ignorance. She has the very condition Wisdom told the naive to leave in verse 6, and she is in no position to teach anyone.
אשת כסילות · eshet kesilut · woman Folly
Kesilut is the noun from kesil, the dull fool, and occurs only here. She is foolishness in person, the counterpart to Wisdom in verse 1.
המה · hamah · be noisy, restless
To be loud and turbulent. The same word described the adulteress in 7:11.
פתיות · petayyut · gullibility
The noun from peti, found only here. Hebrew says she is naivete, not merely that she has it.
ידע · yada · know
Verse 10 defined understanding as knowing the Holy One. She does not know anything.
The Hebrew of this verse is compressed and partly uncertain, and versions vary in detail ('simple', 'seductive', 'without shame'). The words kesilut and petayyut each occur only here. The overall sense is not in doubt: she is loud, empty-headed and ignorant.
Proverbs 9:14
She sits in the doorway of her house, on a seat high up in the town.
She sits at the door of her house,
Folly has a house too, but she has built nothing and prepared nothing. She simply sits in the doorway. Wisdom sent messengers out; Folly waits for whoever walks by.
on a chair at the high points of the town,
She has taken the same vantage point Wisdom used in verse 3 and set herself up on a seat of honor there. From a distance the two look alike, which is the danger.
ישב · yashav · sit, stay
To sit or stay put. The contrast is with Wisdom's seven active verbs in verses 1 to 3.
פתח · petach · opening, entrance
The entrance of a house. The young man of 7:8 was heading for such a door.
בית · bayit · house, household
The word of verse 1. Two houses stand open to the same passer-by.
כסא · kisse · seat of honor, throne
The word normally used for a throne. She gives herself a place of importance.
מרום · marom · high place
The exact phrase of verse 3: the heights of the town.
Proverbs 9:15
She calls out to people walking by who are simply going straight on their way.
calling to those who pass along the road,
Her targets are ordinary travellers. They are not looking for her; she interrupts them.
who are keeping straight on their paths:
This detail matters. These people are on a straight course and doing nothing wrong. Folly's work is to pull people off a good road, and it takes only one turn.
קרא · qara · call, invite
The same verb used of Wisdom in verse 3. Both women call.
עבר · avar · pass along
To pass along or cross. Literally those passing along the road, derek.
ישר · yashar · make straight
The verb from yashar, straight or upright. They are making their paths straight, a phrase with a moral ring in Proverbs (3:6).
ארח · orach · path, course
A path or course of life.
Proverbs 9:16
Come in here, anyone who does not know much yet! To those who have no sense she says:
'Whoever is gullible, let him turn aside and come in here.'
Her invitation is identical to Wisdom's in verse 4, word for word. The naive person cannot tell the two apart by the wording. He has to look at who is speaking and what is being offered.
And to the one who has no sense she says,
The same audience as verse 4 as well. The person without judgment is being claimed by both sides, and remaining undecided is not possible for long.
פתי · peti · open, gullible
The same person Wisdom invited. Being open means both voices can reach him.
סור · sur · turn aside
The same verb as verse 4. Here the turn takes a person off the straight path of verse 15.
חסר לב · chasar lev · lacking heart
Literally lacking heart, exactly as in verse 4.
Proverbs 9:17
Stolen water tastes sweet! Food you eat in secret is the nicest!
'Stolen water is sweet,
Here her offer differs from Wisdom's. She has no wine and no meat, only water, and it is not hers. Her whole appeal is that it is forbidden: the thrill of taking what is not yours.
and bread eaten in hiding tastes good.'
The second line adds secrecy to the attraction. What she says is partly true, since wrongdoing can taste good at first. What she leaves out comes in verse 18.
גנב · ganav · steal
The verb of the eighth commandment (Exodus 20:15).
מים · mayim · water
Set against Wisdom's mixed wine. In 5:15 drinking water from your own cistern is a picture of faithfulness in marriage, so stolen water points to adultery.
מתק · mataq · be sweet
To taste sweet.
לחם · lechem · bread, food
The word Wisdom used for her food in verse 5.
סתר · seter · hiding place
A hidden place. Literally bread of hidden places. Wisdom's meal was announced from the heights; this one has to be concealed.
נעם · na'em · be pleasant
To be delightful. In 2:10 the same verb says knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
In a dry land a household's well or cistern was valuable private property, and taking water from another's was theft. Chapter 5:15-18 uses a man's own well as a picture for his own wife, which is why this saying is heard as an invitation to illicit sex as well as to wrongdoing in general.
Proverbs 9:18
But those who go in do not know that dead people are in there. Everyone who went in before is now deep down in the grave.
But he does not know that the dead are in there,
The narrator, not Folly, has the last word. The man who goes in thinks he is at a party. He does not know the house is full of ghosts.
that those she has invited are in the depths of the grave.
Her earlier guests are already in Sheol. Her house is the entrance to it. Wisdom's meal ended with 'live' in verse 6; Folly's ends here.
ידע · yada · know
Folly knows nothing (verse 13) and neither does the one who listens to her.
רפאים · repha'im · shades of the dead
The dead as dwellers in the underworld, sometimes rendered shades. The same word is used of the adulteress's house in 2:18.
קרא · qara · called ones
Literally her called ones, from the verb of verses 3 and 15. Those who answered her call.
עמק · omeq · depth
From a root meaning to be deep. Not just in the grave but far down in it.
שאול · she'ol · the grave
The realm of the dead. The long opening section of the book, chapters 1 to 9, ends in this place before the single sayings begin in chapter 10.