Proverbs

Chapter 9

The Way of Wisdom and The Way of Folly

Proverbs 9 sets Wisdom and Folly side by side as rival hostesses, each calling to the simple and offering a meal, but leading to utterly different ends. Wisdom summons the teachable to leave folly, fear the LORD, and gain life, while Folly offers stolen pleasure that hides the presence of the dead.

As the ninth chapter of Proverbs, this passage closes the book's opening appeals by reducing the whole moral drama to a decisive choice between two invitations. It gathers earlier themes of teachability, mockery, the fear of the LORD, and adulterous seduction into one final contrast between the path that matures into life and the path that descends into Sheol.

2 sections·141 words·~1 min read

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Proverbs 9

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vv. 1-12

The Way of Wisdom

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W¹isdom has built her house; ²She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; ³She has sent out her maidservants; ⁴“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” ⁵“Come, eat my bread ⁶Leave your folly behind, and you will live;

⁷He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; ⁸Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; ⁹Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; ¹⁰The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, ¹¹For through wisdom your days will be multiplied, ¹²If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage;

vv. 13-18

The Way of Folly

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T¹³he woman named Folly is loud; ¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, ¹⁵calling out to those who pass by, ¹⁶“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” ¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, ¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there,

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