Proverbs · chapter 9 of 31
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Proverbs 9 presents two women who invite the simple to their houses: Wisdom, who built her house and prepares a feast of life, and Folly, loud and without knowledge, who offers stolen water and secret bread whose end is death. In the middle, the chapter explains who receives correction and repeats that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Proverbs 9 closes the first great section of the book, the father's discourses of chapters 1 to 9. After the warnings and the voice of Wisdom in chapter 8, the final scene sets the two options directly against each other: two invitations, two houses, two feasts and two destinies. It is a conclusion that prepares the reader for the separate sayings that begin in chapter 10.
Wisdom has built her house and hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts, mixed her wine and set her table, and sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town (vv. 1-3). Her invitation is for the simple and those who lack sense: come, eat her bread and drink the wine she has mixed, leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insight (vv. 4-6).
In the middle of the chapter is a reflection on who accepts teaching. Whoever corrects a scoffer gets abuse, and whoever reproves a wicked man incurs injury, so do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you; give instruction to a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning (vv. 7-9). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. By her your days will be multiplied and years added to your life. If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it (vv. 10-12).
Then the other invitation appears. The woman Folly is loud, seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat on the high places of the town, and calls to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way: whoever is simple, let him turn in here, and to him who lacks sense she says that stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant (vv. 13-17).
The chapter ends with a grim sentence: he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol (v. 18). The beauty of her offer hides the grave. With this image the first part of the book ends.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Wisdom has built her house and hewn her seven pillars. The image shows a solid, complete and welcoming house that invites in those who seek life; God's wisdom is well-made work and not improvised.
The scoffer hates the one who corrects him, but the wise man loves the one who reproves him and grows from instruction. How we react to correction says a great deal about our wisdom.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowing the Holy One is insight. It is the same principle as Proverbs 1:7, repeated at the end of the discourses to remind us that all the father's teaching rests on reverence toward God.
Folly says stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but her guests are in the depths of Sheol. The attraction of sin lies in what is forbidden and hidden, but its result is death.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Seven pillars, hewn for her house. — Proverbs 9:1
Answer: She slaughtered her beasts, mixed her wine and set her table. — Proverbs 9:2
Answer: The simple and those who lack sense, so that they leave their simple ways and live. — Proverbs 9:4-6
Answer: The scoffer hates the one who reproves him; the wise man loves him and becomes wiser. — Proverbs 9:8-9
Answer: The fear of the Lord. — Proverbs 9:10
Answer: Stolen water, which is sweet, and bread eaten in secret, which is pleasant. — Proverbs 9:17
Proverbs 9 sets before us an everyday decision: which invitation we answer. Wisdom calls with a prepared feast and Folly with a promise of immediate pleasure. In a group you can talk about the invitations we received this week and which voice they came from.
The center of the chapter speaks about how we receive correction. If we respond with anger, we may resemble the scoffer more; if we are thankful when someone points out a mistake, we show wisdom. Leaders, teachers and parents can ask whether they correct in love and whether they are open to being corrected. And the line about the fear of the Lord takes us back to the beginning: without reverence for God, wisdom does not take root.
Proverbs 9 closes the father's discourses with the choice between two houses, two feasts and two destinies. From chapter 10 the book changes style: the short proverbs of Solomon begin, one- or two-line sayings that gather observations about daily life, often in contrast between the righteous and the wicked.
The text does not explain it. In the Bible the number seven often signals completeness, so the image suggests a full and stable house. Some interpreters propose other readings, but all agree that wisdom gives a solid foundation to whoever enters her.
No. The text describes how the scoffer reacts, rejecting correction and answering with insults, and advises not wasting time on one who mocks everything. At the same time it encourages correcting the wise man, who will be thankful. It takes discernment about when and to whom to speak.