What Does Proverbs 3:15 Mean?
She is more precious than rubies, and nothing you long for can be made equal to her.
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 is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.THE KEY
Wisdom is not one more thing you desire; she is the measure by which every desire is found unequal.
THE MEANING
Wisdom is precious to you now, beyond jewels and beyond everything you want. The verse places all your desires beside her and says none can equal her worth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that whatever you want most must be what is most valuable.
THE ROOT
יְקָרָה
yeqārāh
GROWS FROM
יקר
y-q-r
To be precious, costly, or rare; to carry marked value.
“precious” in this verse is yeqārāh. This root speaks of rarity and worth, not merely a high price. Wisdom cannot be assembled from the things you desire: the verse says she remains beyond their combined measure.
ALSO GROWS
yāqār: Precious, costly, rare.
יָקָר
This common form shares the verse’s root and shows that Wisdom’s value is something held as rare and precious.
hōqîr: To esteem or regard as precious.
הוֹקִיר
This verb form brings out the act of valuing: Wisdom is not just costly, but worthy of being held precious.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom’s worth exceeds every desire, metal, or treasure offered as a measure.
For Wisdom is better than rubies, and all that you delight in cannot be set level with her.Coral and crystal are never remembered, and the drawing of wisdom is above pearls.Again, the governance of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in a field, which, when a man has found, he hides; and in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.THE THREAD
For Wisdom is better than rubies, and all that you delight in cannot be set level with her.Proverbs 8:11 repeats the claim about rubies and desired things, but names Wisdom directly. It makes the “she” in this verse legible: she is Wisdom, whose worth exceeds both jewels and every desire.
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