What Does Proverbs 9:15 Mean in the King James?
To call passengers who go right on their ways:
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 call reaches even those who are making their paths straight.
THE MEANING
The voice of Folly reaches you while you are moving along a path described as straight. The verse places the call beside the ordinary way, before saying whether you answer. Hearing a crooked invitation does not mean you have already left your way.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a foolish call reaches only someone who has already lost their way; here it calls to people whose paths are being made straight.
THE ROOT
הַמְיַשְּׁרִים
ham-yasherim
GROWS FROM
י־ש־ר
y-sh-r
To be straight, level, or upright; in this form, to make straight.
Inside “go right” is the active image of making a path straight: the people are in the act of laying their route level while a call reaches them. The same root appears when God “direct[s]” paths in Proverbs 3:6.
ALSO GROWS
yāšār: Straight, level, upright.
יָשָׁר
Names the quality of a path described as straight.
mîšôr: Level ground; levelness.
מִישׁוֹר
Carries straightness into the terrain a traveler crosses.
עֹבְרֵי
ʿovrei
GROWS FROM
ע־ב־ר
ʿ-b-r
To cross over, pass through, or pass by.
“passengers” in this verse is ʿovrei. The people Folly addresses are defined by movement: they are passing along the way. Her voice intersects ordinary passage rather than waiting for someone to seek her out.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: To pass over or cross.
עָבַר
Keeps the movement of the passersby visible in the verse.
maʿavār: A crossing or passage.
מַעֲבָר
Makes the route itself part of the scene where the call is heard.
לִקְרֹא
liqro
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־א
q-r-ʾ
To call out, summon, or name.
This is a summons directed toward someone, not merely a sound in the background. The verse records Folly’s call reaching people in motion; it has not yet told us how they respond.
ALSO GROWS
qārāʾ: To call, summon, or name.
קָרָא
Shows that the voice addresses someone and draws their attention.
miqrāʾ: A convocation or reading.
מִקְרָא
Carries the root’s sense of an utterance that calls people together or aloud.
THE PATTERN
Calls meet people along the way, and the caller’s character is revealed by where the invitation leads.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.THE THREAD
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.Both verses use יָשָׁר (yāšār), “to be or make straight”: here it describes the passersby making their paths straight, and in Proverbs 3:6 it describes the LORD directing them. A straightened path can still be a place where another voice calls.
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