What Does Proverbs 22:20 Mean?
Have I not written to you before, in counsels and knowledge,
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
Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,THE KEY
The counsel on the page is meant to become knowledge by encounter, not information kept at a distance.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you with instruction that joins counsel to knowing. Knowledge here reaches beyond facts: it is recognition gained through encounter, so what is written becomes living wisdom for you now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that reading wisdom means only collecting information; this verse joins what is written to counsel and knowledge that are personally known.
THE ROOT
דַּעַת
da'at
GROWS FROM
י־ד־ע
y-d-ʿ
to know, perceive, or recognize through encounter
דַּעַת (da’at, knowledge) grows from יָדַע (yada, to know by encounter), so the verse’s knowledge is not mere possession of facts. It is counsel known from within experience; the English phrase holds instruction and lived recognition together.
ALSO GROWS
yada: to know, perceive, recognize
יָדַע
This verb is the seed of the noun for knowledge, joining what is written to knowing through encounter.
maddaʿ: knowledge, understanding
מַדָּע
This related noun shows the root can name knowledge as a capacity for discernment, not only a store of facts.
מֹעֵצוֹת
mo'etsot
GROWS FROM
י־ע־ץ
y-ʿ-ts
to advise, deliberate, or consult
The word rendered ‘counsels’ comes from a root of advising and consulting, so the verse presents wisdom as considered guidance, not a bare statement. Joined to knowledge, counsel is something examined and received.
ALSO GROWS
etsah: counsel, advice
עֵצָה
This is the singular form behind the verse’s plural counsels, making the instruction concrete as guidance.
yo'ets: adviser, counselor
יוֹעֵץ
This branch names one who gives counsel, illuminating the relational source behind the guidance.
שָׁלִישִׁים
shalishim
GROWS FROM
ש־ל־ש
sh-l-sh
three, or to make threefold
The rare Hebrew term behind ‘excellent things’ is tied to the root for three; it also permits the sense ‘thirty sayings.’ Beside the KJV’s wording, this adds a shade of instruction that is measured and deliberately arranged.
ALSO GROWS
shalosh: three
שָׁלוֹשׁ
This is the number carried by the root behind shalishim.
shelishi: third
שְׁלִישִׁי
This ordinal form carries the idea of order and distinction that can add depth to ‘excellent things.’
THE PATTERN
Wisdom’s words open into knowing and discernment as they are received.
To know wisdom and straightening, to discern the words of distinction.The opening of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the open ones.And that from the cradle you have known the set-apart letters, which are able to make you wise unto deliverance through trust in Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
For the LORD gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and discernment.Proverbs 2:6 repeats דַּעַת (da’at, knowledge), the same noun grounded in יָדַע (yada, to know by encounter). It opens this verse further by naming the LORD as the source from whose mouth wisdom, knowledge, and understanding come.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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