What Does Proverbs 8:21 Mean in the King James?

That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

Proverbs 8:21 · KJV

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 makes her lovers heirs of ⁨יֵשׁ⁩ (yesh, “what is”), naming substance as something received from what is real.

THE MEANING

Wisdom’s promise addresses the reader now: those who love her inherit substance, and their stores are filled. The Hebrew ⁨יֵשׁ⁩ (yesh, “there is”; “substance” here) carries the sense of receiving what truly exists. Fullness comes as an inheritance.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the belief that substance must be self-made: here, it is inherited from Wisdom.

THE ROOT

לְהַנְחִיל

lehanḥil

GROWS FROM

נחל

N-Ḥ-L

to inherit or possess as an inheritance

“cause … to inherit” in this verse is lehanḥil. The verb means to cause someone to inherit: Wisdom’s lovers receive what is theirs as an inheritance. The thing they inherit is ⁨יֵשׁ⁩ (yesh, “there is”; “substance” here), linking possession with what is genuinely present.

ALSO GROWS

naḥalah: inheritance, possession

נַחֲלָה

This noun makes the shared root explicit: what Wisdom gives is received as an inheritance.

hinḥil: caused someone to inherit

הִנְחִיל

This verb form shares the verse’s causative sense: Wisdom brings her lovers into possession.

THE PATTERN

Fullness comes as received provision from a source that gives life and sustenance.

Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.

Proverbs 3:16 · KJVWisdom is pictured holding out a life marked by abundance.

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 23:1 · KJVThe shepherd’s care supplies what the speaker needs.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

2 Corinthians 9:8 · KJVGod’s abundant provision fills the receiver and makes sufficiency overflow into action.

THE THREAD

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

Genesis 28:16 · KJV

The Hebrew ⁨יֵשׁ⁩ (yesh, “there is”) appears in both verses; in Proverbs it is rendered “substance,” while here it opens the sentence about the LORD’s presence. The inheritance Wisdom gives is named with the same word that Jacob speaks when he recognizes what is truly there.

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