What Does Proverbs 1:21 Mean?
At the heads of the roaring places she calls out, in the openings of the gates. In the city she speaks her words, saying,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,THE KEY
The verse locates Wisdom inside the city’s roar, voicing her own sayings at the thresholds where people pass.
THE MEANING
Wisdom speaks into the crowded life around you, where people gather and doors open. Her voice meets you amid divided attention and the ordinary movement of the city. The doubled phrase, “her words she says,” makes her speech unmistakable and present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that wisdom is hidden behind special access: she speaks where the city’s people meet, at entrances and in public.
THE ROOT
תִּקְרָא
tiqra from qara
GROWS FROM
קרא
To call out, summon, or name.
“calls out” in this verse is tiqra from qara. This verb carries the force of a public summons. Wisdom’s cry gathers attention at the city’s busiest thresholds.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: A convocation or public reading.
מִקְרָא
The same root can name a gathering called into being, echoing Wisdom’s voice among the people.
qeri’ah: Calling or reading aloud.
קְרִיאָה
It keeps the sense of voiced address present in “crieth.”
הֹמִיּוֹת
homiyyot
GROWS FROM
המה
To murmur, roar, or make a tumult.
“heads of the roaring places” in this verse is homiyyot. The place Wisdom chooses is marked by bustle and noise. Her voice rises within the city’s clamor, where ordinary life is already in motion.
ALSO GROWS
hamon: A multitude or crowd; also a sound or tumult.
הָמוֹן
It draws the “concourse” into view as a gathering of people and noise.
hamiyyah: Murmuring or tumult.
הֲמִיָּה
It emphasizes the surrounding sound into which Wisdom’s call enters.
אֲמָרֶיהָ תֹאמֵר
amareha tomar
GROWS FROM
אמר
To say or speak.
“speaks” in this verse is amareha tomar. The phrase places “her sayings” beside a verb from the same root: literally, “her sayings she says.” The echo makes speech the substance of her public presence: Wisdom is present in the city through her own voiced sayings.
ALSO GROWS
imrah: A saying or utterance.
אִמְרָה
It shares the root of “her words,” showing that her message is made of spoken sayings.
ma’amar: A statement or decree.
מַאֲמָר
It carries the same root into a spoken declaration, reinforcing the verse’s emphasis on voiced words.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom’s voice meets people in shared public places, where the whole community can hear.
Beside the gates, at the mouth of the city, at the openings of the doors she cries out.I bring good news of alignment in the great assembly. Here, I do not hold my lips shut. O LORD, you perceive.On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.THE THREAD
Does not Wisdom cry out, and discernment give her voice?“Cry” comes from the same Hebrew root, קרא (qara, to call out or summon), as “crieth” here. Proverbs 8:1 names Wisdom’s cry directly; this verse places that same call amid the city’s noise and at its gates.
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