What Does Proverbs 1:5 Mean in the King James?
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Wisdom is not what you already know; it is the part of you still able to hear and take in more.
THE MEANING
Wisdom in you is alive, not finished: you hear and keep gaining instruction. Understanding gathers wise counsel as direction for the choices before you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being wise means already having the answers. Here, wisdom shows itself by remaining receptive and continuing to receive direction.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמַע
yishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שׁמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear or listen; when the context calls for a response, heed or obey.
English “hear” can sound like a sound merely arriving, but this root can carry the movement from hearing to heeding when the context calls for it. Here, hearing opens the way for learning to keep growing.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: To hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
It shows that the verse’s hearing can be receptive enough to shape what follows.
shemuʿah: A report or news; what is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch makes hearing the point where something received can enter understanding.
לֶקַח
leqaḥ
GROWS FROM
לקח
l-q-ḥ
Take or receive.
The word translated “learning” comes from a root meaning to take or receive. Learning here is something wisdom keeps taking in, not a status it finishes acquiring.
ALSO GROWS
laqach: To take or receive.
לָקַח
This verb reveals the receptive motion held inside the verse’s word for learning.
leqaḥ: Instruction or learning.
לֶקַח
The verse says the wise person adds more of what is received as instruction.
תַּחְבֻּלוֹת
taḥbulot
GROWS FROM
חבל
ḥ-b-l
A rope or cord; in this word form, skillful guidance or strategy.
“counsels” in this verse is taḥbulot. The Hebrew term has a word-family link with rope or cord and means skillful guidance or strategy. Counsel suggests lines that direct movement, so understanding acquires a course rather than merely storing opinions.
ALSO GROWS
ḥevel: A rope or cord.
חֶבֶל
The cord image illuminates counsel as something that helps direct a course.
taḥbulah: A plan, strategy, or skillful guidance.
תַּחְבֻּלָה
This singular form shows the kind of direction the understanding person acquires.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom keeps growing through receptive hearing that takes in instruction and counsel.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.THE THREAD
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:Proverbs uses יִשְׁמַע (yishmaʿ), from שׁמע, the same root rendered “obey” in Exodus’s “if ye will obey my voice indeed.” This shows hearing as receptive response: what reaches you can become the course that guides you.
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