EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Proverbs 1:20
20Listen! Wisdom is like a woman who shouts in the streets. She speaks loudly in the market places.
Proverbs 1:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
- New International Version (NIV)Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square;
- English Standard Version (ESV)Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice;
- New King James Version (NKJV)Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.
Context of Proverbs 1:20
18These wicked men hide to attack someone. They are ready to kill someone, but they destroy their own lives! 19That is what happens to those who cheat other people to become rich themselves. The riches that they have taken from others will destroy their own lives. Listen! Wisdom is like a woman who shouts in the streets. She speaks loudly in the market places. 21She shouts above the noise in the city's streets. She calls aloud at its gates. This is what she says: 22‘Listen to me! Will you silly people continue to be so silly? You people who laugh at God, will you always be like that? Will fools always refuse to learn anything?
Read all of Proverbs 1Proverbs 1:20 word by word
חָ֭כְמוֹת בַּח֣וּץ תָּרֹ֑נָּה בָּ֝רְחֹב֗וֹת תִּתֵּ֥ן קוֹלָֽהּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 1:20
- Matthew 13:54Jesus returned to his own town. He taught the Jewish people in their meeting room there. The people were very surprised about the things that he taught them. They said to each other, ‘We do not know how this man learned all these things. And we do not know how he does all these powerful things.
- Luke 11:49God is wise. Because you do not obey what is true, he said, “I will send my prophets and apostles to go to them. But they will kill some of my servants. They will hurt others of them.”
- 1 Corinthians 1:24But it is different for us whom God has called to come to him. Some of us are Jews, and some of us are Gentiles. For us, Christ shows God's great power. He shows how wise God is.
- Colossians 2:3Christ is the one who holds everything that makes people wise. He helps people to know the true message that God had hidden.
- Proverbs 8:1Listen! Wisdom is calling out. She wants you to understand what is right, so she speaks in a loud voice.
- Proverbs 9:3She has sent her servants to shout a message from the highest places in the town.
- John 7:37The last day of the festival was the most important day. On that day, Jesus stood up and he spoke with a loud voice. He said, ‘If anyone is thirsty, he should come to me so that he may drink.
Commentaries on Proverbs 1:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20Wisdom crieth - Here wisdom is again personified, as it is frequently, throughout this book; where nothing is meant but the teachings given to man, either by Divine revelation or the voice of the Holy Spirit in the heart. And this voice of wisdom is opposed to the seducing language of the wicked mentioned above. This voice is everywhere heard, in public, in private, in the streets, and in the house. Common sense, universal experience, and the law of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20Wisdom is personified. In the Hebrew the noun is a feminine plural, as though this Wisdom were the queen of all wisdoms, uniting in herself all their excellences. She lifts up her voice, not in solitude, but in the haunts of men “without,” i. e., outside the walls, in the streets, at the highest point of all places of concourse, in the open space of the gates where the elders meet and the king sits in judgment, in the heart of the city itself Proverbs…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20-33Verses 20-33 Solomon, having showed how dangerous it is to hearken to the temptations of Satan, here declares how dangerous it is not to hearken to the calls of God. Christ himself is Wisdom, is Wisdoms. Three sorts of persons are here called by Him: 1. Simple ones. Sinners are fond of their simple notions of good and evil, their simple prejudices against the ways of God, and flatter themselves in their wickedness. 2. Scorners. Proud, jovial people, that…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20-33The author describes wisdom as a woman. In Hebrew, the word for wisdom, khokmah, is grammatically feminine. The author encourages his son to embrace wisdom (see Proverbs 3:18; 8:1–9:6).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 20-3320-33. Some interpreters regard this address as the language of the Son of God under the name of Wisdom (compare Lu 11:49). Others think that wisdom, as the divine attribute specially employed in acts of counsel and admonition, is here personified, and represents God. In either case the address is a most solemn and divine admonition, whose matter and spirit are eminently evangelical and impressive (see on Pr 8:1). Wisdom--literally, "Wisdoms," the plural…Read the comment
Topics related to Proverbs 1:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Proverbs 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
EasyEnglish Bible 2018 — Copyright © MissionAssist 2018
Commentaries