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Proverbs 8
1Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?
2On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.
3Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud:
4“I call to you men! I send my voice to the sons of mankind.
5You simple, understand prudence! You fools, be of an understanding heart!
6Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.
7For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8All the words of my mouth are in . There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
9They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge.
10Receive my instruction rather than silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.
11For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be can’t be compared to it.
12“I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion.
13The fear of the LORD is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
14Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power.
15By me reign, and princes decree justice.
16By me princes rule, nobles, and all the rulers of the earth.
17I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.
18With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity.
19My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, my yield than choice silver.
20I walk in the way of , in the middle of the paths of justice,
21that I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries.
22“The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old.
23I was set up from , from the beginning, before the earth existed.
24When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water.
25Before the were settled in place, before the hills, I was born;
26while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
27When he established the heavens, I was there. When he set a circle on the surface of the deep,
28when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,
29when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him,
31rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.
32“Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways.
33Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it.
34Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts.
35For whoever finds me finds life, and will obtain favor from the LORD.
36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”
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Questions this passage answers
How do I stop committing the same sin over and over?
Scripture answers a repeated sin by changing what the believer reckons to be true, then by naming the ordinary means: consider yourself dead to sin, stop presenting your body to it, bring it out of secrecy by confession, walk by the Spirit, and remove what feeds the desire. It does not promise a single moment that ends the struggle, and it does not treat repeated falling as proof that grace has run out.
How do I trust God when life is difficult?
Biblical trust is not a feeling you generate. It is leaning your weight on what God has revealed about himself, especially when your circumstances suggest otherwise. Scripture builds trust the same way every time: by remembering what God has already done, telling him the truth about what you feel now, and obeying the next small thing while the outcome is still hidden.
How do I know God's will for my life?
Scripture speaks of God's will in two ways. His revealed will is what he has already told us plainly and is not in doubt: holiness, love, gratitude, obedience. His hidden will concerns the future and is not given to us in advance. The Bible directs almost all its attention to the first, and it teaches us to make wise decisions inside it rather than to decode secret guidance.
What does it mean to fear the Lord?
The fear of the LORD is not terror of an unpredictable God. It is the reverence of a creature who has rightly understood who God is, holy, sovereign and near, and who therefore takes him seriously in every decision. Proverbs calls it the beginning of knowledge, because a person who has not reckoned with God has not yet begun to understand anything rightly.