Proverbs 9:12

If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
wise	חָ֭כַמְתָּ Cha.kham.ta	H2449	to be wise (in mind · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
wise	חָכַ֣מְתָּ cha.Kham.ta	H2449	to be wise (in mind · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
scornest	וְ֝לַ֗צְתָּ ve.Latz.ta	H3887	properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
bear	תִשָּֽׂא ti.Sa'	H5375	to lift · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular

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

Job 22:2-3 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the so…
2 Peter 3:3-4 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
Job 22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
Proverbs 16:26 He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him.
Job 35:6-7 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?
Isaiah 28:22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined…
2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 9:1-12

Wisdom is here introduced as a magnificent and munificent queen, very great and very generous; that Word of God is this Wisdom in which God makes known his goodwill towards men; God the Word is this Wisdom, to whom the Father has committed all judgment. He who, in the chapter before, showed his grandeur and glory as the Creator of the world, here shows his grace and goodness as the Redeemer of it. The word is plural, Wisdoms; for in Christ are hid treasures of wisdom, and in his undertaking appears the manifold wisdom of God in a mystery. Now observe here, I. The rich provision which Wisdom has made for the reception of all those that will be her disciples. This is represented under the simi…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 9:12

You are mainly concerned in your own conduct.

John Gill on Proverbs 9:12

If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself,.... He is wise that harkens to Wisdom's advice, that obeys her call, turns in to her house, and becomes her guest; and such an one is wise for himself, it is for his own good, profit, and advantage; for the good of his soul, for his present peace and comfort, and for his future bliss and happiness. It is not for her own sake that Wisdom presses her exhortations, and is so urgent on men to take her counsel and advice; it is for their own good; their wisdom is not profitable to her, but to themselves; they, and they only, reap the advantage and usefulness of it; see Job 22:2. The Syriac and Arabic versions add, "and unto thy friends"; and the Se…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 9:12

This wisdom, resting on the fear of God, is itself a blessing to the wise: "If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself; And if thou mockest, thou alone shalt bear it." The lxx, with the Syr., mangle the thought of 12a, for they translate: if thou art wise for thyself, so also thou wilt be wise for thy neighbour. The dat. commodi לך means that it is for the personal advantage of the wise to be wise. The contrast expressed by Job 22:2.: not profitable to God, but to thyself (Hitzig), is scarcely intended, although, so far as the accentuation is antithetic, it is the nearest. The perf. ולצתּ is the hypothetical; Gesen. 126, 1. To bear anything, viz., anything sinful (חטא or עון), is equivalent…

The Church Fathers

Observe that the wise man must be useful to many; so that he who is useful only to himself cannot be wise. For great is the condemnation of wisdom if she reserves her power simply for the one possessing her. But as poison is not injurious to another body, but only to that one which takes it, so also the man who turns out wicked will injure himself, and not another. For no man of real virtue is injured by a wicked man.
— Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments

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

Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Scoffing · 21:14,15;34:7; — 21:14,15;34:7;
Wisdom · .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO

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 9:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 9:1-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 9:12

John Gill on Proverbs 9:12

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 9:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 9:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 9:1-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 9:12

John Gill on Proverbs 9:12

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 9:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 9:10-12

Rashi on Proverbs 9:11