What Does Proverbs 9:14 Mean in the King James?

For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

Proverbs 9:14 · 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

Folly’s seat is a doorway in the city’s heights: visibility and access are not evidence of wisdom.

THE MEANING

Folly is settled at an entrance, and her seat is in the city’s heights. She is not remote or obscure: she occupies a threshold and a visible public place. The verse speaks now wherever a destructive invitation is both accessible and conspicuous; position alone does not make its voice wise.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that a visible, established voice must be wise; this woman sits in the city’s high places, yet the passage names her folly.

THE ROOT

מְרֹמֵי

meromei

GROWS FROM

רוּם

rum

to rise, be high, or be exalted

“high places” in this verse is meromei. The word marks actual elevation, the conspicuous heights of the city. The same height can hold competing voices, so prominence does not disclose the nature of the one speaking.

ALSO GROWS

ram: high, lofty

רָם

It carries the same language of elevation without deciding whether the elevated thing is wise.

terumah: a contribution or portion lifted up

תְּרוּמָה

It shows how the root can describe something raised or set apart, extending the image beyond a physical height.

פֶּתַח

petach

GROWS FROM

פתח

to open

The door is named as an opening: a point where a person can pass into a house. Folly occupies that accessible threshold, making her presence easy to encounter.

ALSO GROWS

pataḥ: to open

פָּתַח

The verb makes the doorway’s basic sense explicit: it is an opening between outside and inside.

mafteach: key

מַפְתֵּחַ

A key opens what is closed, extending the same root’s connection to access and entry.

וְיָשְׁבָה

weyashvah

GROWS FROM

ישב

to sit, dwell, or settle

“sitteth” in this verse is weyashvah. She is not merely passing through the doorway; she is settled there. The root holds sitting and dwelling together, making her place a position she occupies.

ALSO GROWS

yoshev: one who sits or dwells

יֹשֵׁב

It describes someone established in a place, like the woman stationed at the entrance.

moshav: a seat, dwelling place, or settlement

מוֹשָׁב

It connects sitting with the place a person occupies or makes a home.

THE PATTERN

A public position or open threshold does not reveal the nature of the invitation; its direction does.

She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.

Proverbs 8:2 · KJVWisdom also takes a public station at the high places, so the location is shared while the voice differs.

She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

Proverbs 9:3 · KJVWisdom likewise calls from the city’s highest places; prominence alone cannot distinguish an invitation.

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Matthew 7:13 · KJVThe gate opens onto a way whose destination, rather than its openness or traffic, discloses its nature.

THE THREAD

She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

Proverbs 9:3 · KJV

Wisdom occupies the same “highest places of the city” as the woman in this verse; both use the phrase ⁨מְרֹמֵי קָרֶת⁩ (meromei qaret). Their shared elevation makes the deeper difference striking: the height tells where a voice calls from, not what its invitation leads to.

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