Proverbs 24:7

Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Wisdom	חׇכְמוֹת chokmôwth	H2454	wisdom
high	רָאמ֣וֹת ra.Mot	H7311	to be high actively · verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
fool	לֶֽאֱוִ֣יל le.'e.Vil	H191	(figuratively) silly · preposition + adjective, masculine singular absolute
openeth	יִפְתַּח yif.tach-	H6605	to open wide (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
mouth	פִּֽיהוּ Pi.hu	H6310	the mouth (as the means of blowing) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
gate	בַּ֝שַּׁ֗עַר ba.Sha.'ar	H8179	an opening · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 14:6 A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.
Psalms 10:5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they…
Psalms 92:5-6 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
Job 5:4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
Job 29:7-25 When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Job 31:21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
Proverbs 15:24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:7-9

Here is the description, 1. Of a weak man: Wisdom is too high for him; he thinks it so, and therefore, despairing to attain it, he will take no pains in the pursuit of it, but sit down content without it. And really it is so; he has not capacity for it, and therefore the advantages he has for getting it are all in vain to him. It is no easy thing to get wisdom; those that have natural parts good enough, yet if they be foolish, that is, if they be slothful and will not take pains, if they be playful and trifling, and given to their pleasures, if they be viciously inclined and keep bad company, it is too high for them; they are not likely to reach it. And, for want of it, they are unfit for th…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:7

(Compare Pro 14:16). in the gate--(Compare Pro 22:22).

John Gill on Proverbs 24:7

Wisdom is too high for a fool,.... It is out of his reach, he cannot attain it; natural wisdom, or the knowledge of many things in nature; at least it seems so to himself, and therefore will not take any pains, or make use of any means, to obtain it; as the knowledge of human laws; of medicine, of philosophy, of languages, or of any of the liberal arts and sciences; or he has not really a capacity for it. This is more especially true of spiritual wisdom, or of the knowledge of divine things in a spiritual way; or of the things Of the Spirit of God, which a natural man cannot know, because they are spiritually discerned; it is God only makes men to know this kind of wisdom in the hidden part,…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:7

Till now in this appendix we have found only two distichs (vid., vol. i. p. 17); now several of them follow. From this, that wisdom is a power which accomplishes great things, it follows that it is of high value, though to the fool it appears all too costly. 7 Wisdom seems to the fool to be an ornamental commodity; He openeth not his mouth in the gate. Most interpreters take ראמות for רמות (written as at Ch1 6:58; cf. Zac 14:10; ראשׁ, Pro 10:4; קאם, Hos 10:14), and translate, as Jerome and Luther: "Wisdom is to the fool too high;" the way to wisdom is to him too long and too steep, the price too costly, and not to be afforded. Certainly this thought does not lie far distant from what the poe…

The Church Fathers

Wisdom is high for a fool, etc. A fool cannot attain wisdom. For it is high from him who lies in the depths of vices; who even if he thinks he has some knowledge now, at the gate of the city, that is, at the exit of this life, he will find that he knew nothing.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 24:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:7-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:7

John Gill on Proverbs 24:7

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 24:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:7-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:7

John Gill on Proverbs 24:7

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 24:7

Rashi on Proverbs 24:7