What Does Proverbs 2:6 Mean?
For the LORD gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and discernment.
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
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.THE KEY
Wisdom is given by the LORD, and knowing and discernment flow from the same source.
THE MEANING
The LORD gives you wisdom; knowledge and understanding come from what proceeds from his mouth. Insight is something you receive, and it reaches beyond facts to the ability to recognize and discern.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that insight comes only from your own effort or accumulation: wisdom is given, and its source is beyond you.
THE ROOT
חָכְמָה
chokmah
GROWS FROM
חכם
ḥ-k-m
To be wise or act skillfully.
The word carries the sense of capability put to use, not merely ideas stored in the mind. In Exodus 31:3, this same word appears alongside knowledge, understanding, and workmanship, showing wisdom taking practical form.
ALSO GROWS
chakam: A wise or skilled person.
חָכָם
Wisdom describes a capacity that can be embodied, not only an abstract idea.
chakam: To become wise or act skillfully.
חָכַם
This verbal form shows wisdom as something expressed through capable action.
תְּבוּנָה
tevunah
GROWS FROM
בין
b-y-n
To discern or distinguish.
“discernment” in this verse is tevunah. The related word בֵּין (bein) means “between”: understanding includes perceiving distinctions and relationships. Here, that discerning capacity comes from the LORD’s mouth alongside wisdom and knowledge.
ALSO GROWS
bin: To discern, understand, or distinguish.
בִּין
It shows understanding as the capacity to see what differs and what relates.
bein: Between, among.
בֵּין
This branch reveals the root’s link between understanding and perceiving what lies between things.
דַּעַת
da'at
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
To know or recognize.
English “knowledge” can suggest a store of facts, while da’at comes from a verb also used for knowing or recognizing a person. The verse places this knowing in relation to the LORD as its source.
ALSO GROWS
yada: To know or recognize.
יָדַע
The verb grounds knowledge in knowing a person or reality, not only collecting information.
yodea: One who knows.
יוֹדֵעַ
This form makes knowing a lived capacity of the knower.
THE PATTERN
God’s giving and utterance make wisdom and discernment available, and can carry them into practical skill.
And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.But if any of you is left behind in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without doubling and without taunting, and it will be given him.The opening of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the open ones.THE THREAD
And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.The Hebrew words for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in Proverbs reappear together here. Their presence beside workmanship shows these gifts reaching beyond abstract insight into the ability to make and shape.
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