Proverbs 9

Two women call out to the same people from the high places of the city: Wisdom and Folly. Wisdom offers a prepared feast and life; Folly offers stolen pleasure and ends in death. Between them stands a short teaching about who can be taught, and the fear of the LORD as the true start of wisdom.

Proverbs 9:1

Wisdom is pictured as a woman who has finished building a well-made home. The seven pillars suggest completeness and strength. Everything is ready, and her house stands open. God’s wisdom is solid and sure, not a passing idea.

BSA: built (“established, constructed”): Wisdom’s house is deliberately and firmly founded, not thrown together. pillars (“columns, supports”): The pillars show a home that stands firm and carries weight.

Hebrew: חָצְבָה (chātsᵉvah, H2672) — “she has hewn out.” The word is used of cutting stone from a quarry, so these pillars are shaped with real labor and care.

See also: Matthew 7:24-25.

Proverbs 9:2

Wisdom has done the work of a generous host: meat is prepared, wine is mixed with spices or water, and the table is set. Nothing is left for guests to supply. She gives freely, and the guest need only come.

BSA: mixed (“mingled, blended”): The wine is carefully prepared, a sign of a host who has taken trouble for her guests. table (“place of communion, sacred feast”): The table speaks of fellowship and shared life, not just food.

See also: Psalm 23:5; Isaiah 55:1-2.

Proverbs 9:3

Wisdom sends her maidservants to carry the invitation, and she herself calls from the highest part of the city, where all can hear. Her call is public and open. Wisdom hides from no one who is willing to listen.

BSA: calls out (“cries, invites”): Her voice is an earnest, public invitation, not a quiet whisper.

See also: Proverbs 1:20-21; Proverbs 8:1-3.

Proverbs 9:4

The invitation goes first to the simple, those who are untaught and easily led. Wisdom does not wait for the clever. Those who know they lack understanding are exactly the ones she welcomes in.

BSA: simple (“easily influenced, naive”): These are people open to influence, who will follow either Wisdom or Folly. turn in (“come, turn aside”): Coming to Wisdom means leaving one’s present path and stepping aside to her door.

Hebrew: פֶּתִי (pethi, H6612) — “simple, open-minded.” The word describes someone with an open door in the mind, who can be led for good or ill. It is not a hopeless label, only a warning.

Proverbs 9:5

Wisdom invites the guest to share her meal. Bread and wine mean welcome, friendship and celebration. To come to Wisdom is to be taken in and fed, not merely lectured.

BSA: Come (“to walk with me, to live with me”): The invitation is to a relationship with Wisdom, not just a single visit.

See also: John 6:35; Matthew 11:28.

Proverbs 9:6

The invitation has a cost and a promise. The simple must leave their folly behind and walk the road of understanding. The reward is life. Wisdom asks for a change of direction, and she gives a real future in return.

BSA: live (“have life, be revived”): Wisdom’s offer is life made fresh and whole, not only survival. folly (“childishness, naivety”): What must be left behind is a childish, unthinking way of living.

See also: Proverbs 3:18.

Proverbs 9:7-8

Not everyone welcomes correction. A mocker answers rebuke with insult and hatred, so the one who corrects him gets abuse in return. A wise man is the opposite, and he comes to love the person who corrects him. These are general observations, not a rule against ever speaking up.

BSA: mocker (“scoffer, one who mocks”): This is someone who treats truth with contempt and so cannot be helped. hate (“intensely dislike, have hostility towards”): The mocker turns on the one who tries to help him.

Hebrew: לֵץ (lētz, H3887) — “scoffer.” The word names a person who sneers at everything serious, including advice and God. Proverbs treats him as the hardest kind of fool.

See also: Proverbs 15:12; Psalm 141:5.

Proverbs 9:9

The wise and righteous are hungry to learn. Give them correction and they grow wiser still. Wisdom is never finished, and the humble person keeps taking in more.

BSA: wiser (“more discerning”): Wisdom grows in those who already welcome it. learning (“knowledge, understanding”): The teachable person keeps adding to what he knows.

See also: Proverbs 1:5.

Proverbs 9:10

Here is the foundation of the whole book. Wisdom begins with reverent awe before the LORD, who is holy. True understanding comes from knowing God himself, not merely knowing facts. Everything else in life is built on that.

BSA: fear (“reverence, deep respect”): This is awe and honor before God, not terror alone. Holy One (“set apart, sacred”): God is unlike us, set apart in purity, and knowing him brings understanding.

Hebrew: תְּחִלַּת (tᵉchillath, H8462) — “beginning, starting point.” It means both where wisdom starts and what it is built on. Without reverence for God, wisdom never really begins.

See also: Proverbs 1:7; Psalm 111:10.

Proverbs 9:11

Wisdom leads to a longer and fuller life. Wise living avoids many of the dangers that cut life short, and a life lived with God is richer in every season. This is the general pattern Proverbs holds out, and it points beyond this life as well.

BSA: multiplied (“increased, grown”): Wisdom does not just lengthen life, it makes it grow richer.

See also: Proverbs 3:1-2.

Proverbs 9:12

Each person carries his own choice. The wise person gains from his wisdom, and the scoffer pays for his scorn himself. No one else can accept or refuse Wisdom for you.

BSA: bear the consequences (“suffer the results, lift the burden”): The scoffer must carry the weight of his own choices alone.

See also: Galatians 6:7.

Proverbs 9:13

Now the other woman speaks. Folly is noisy and restless, yet she is empty. She is naive and knows nothing, and still she presumes to call others. She makes a loud show but offers no real substance.

BSA: loud (“clamorous, noisy, full of turmoil”): Folly is all noise and commotion, with nothing behind it. naive (“simple, easily deceived, lacking discernment”): She is herself without discernment, yet she leads others.

See also: Proverbs 7:11.

Proverbs 9:14-15

Folly imitates Wisdom. She too sits high in the city and calls out. But her target is those walking straight along their way. She tries to pull people off a good path with an easy invitation.

BSA: seat (“throne, place of authority”): Folly poses as a ruler, claiming an authority she does not have. straight (“right, upright, pleasant”): Those she calls are going the right way, and she tries to turn them aside.

See also: Proverbs 7:10-12.

Proverbs 9:16

Folly uses almost exactly the same words as Wisdom. The two invitations sound alike, so the simple must learn to tell them apart by where each one leads, not by how it sounds.

BSA: simple (“naive, lacking discernment”): The same untaught people are targeted by both women.

See also: Proverbs 9:4.

Proverbs 9:17

Folly offers no feast, just a stolen bit of water and some secret bread. The appeal is the thrill of the forbidden. Sin often tastes sweet at first. Yet the very secrecy shows it is something to be ashamed of.

BSA: Stolen (“secretly taken, plundered”): What Folly offers does not belong to the one who takes it. secret (“secrecy, hidden”): Sin works in hiding, while Wisdom calls openly.

See also: Proverbs 20:17; Hebrews 11:25.

Proverbs 9:18

The chapter ends with a grim reveal. Folly’s guests do not know that the house is full of the dead. What looked like pleasure leads down to Sheol, the realm of the dead. The simple must choose which table to sit at.

BSA: dead (“Rephaim, departed spirits”): The house is filled with those who came before and never left. depths (“unfathomable, deep places”): Her path leads steadily downward, far deeper than the guest expects.

Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל (shᵉ’ol, H7585) — “Sheol, the realm of the dead.” The Hebrew word names the place where the dead go. Here it shows that Folly’s road ends in ruin, the opposite of the life Wisdom offers.

See also: Proverbs 7:27; Deuteronomy 30:19.