Proverbs 8:14 — Word Study
WLCלִֽי־ עֵ֭צָה וְתוּשִׁיָּ֑ה אֲנִ֥י בִ֝ינָ֗ה לִ֣י גְבוּרָֽה׃
BSACounselʻêtsâh [wise advice, plan, or purpose] and sound judgmenttûwshîyâh [discernment, wisdom, or understanding] Iʼănîy have insightbîynâh [understanding, discernment, or sound knowledge] and strengthgᵉbûwrâh [might, power, or bravery]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| לִֽי־ | [belong] to me | Preposition, suffix |
| עֵ֭צָה | counsel | Noun common, feminine singular absolute |
| וְתוּשִׁיָּ֑ה | and sound wisdom | Conjunction, noun common feminine singular absolute |
| אֲנִ֥י | I | Pronoun |
| בִ֝ינָ֗ה | [am] understanding | Noun common, feminine singular absolute |
| לִ֣י | [belongs] to me | Preposition, suffix |
| גְבוּרָֽה׃ | strength | Noun common, feminine singular absolute |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength. |
| KJV | Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. |
| ASV | Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge: I am understanding; I have might. |
| YLT | Mine [is] counsel and substance, I [am] understanding, I have might. |
| WEB | Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power. |
| BBE | Wise design and good sense are mine; reason and strength are mine. |
The translations consistently convey the speaker's possession of wisdom and strength.
The sentence has a main clause followed by a predicate, clearly stating the speaker's attributes.
8 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them ›
clause
subjectאֲנִי
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Proverbs 8:14
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — Attributes of Wisdomgenerated
Proverbs 8:14 highlights the qualities of wisdom, stating that counsel and sound judgment are integral to the speaker. This verse emphasizes the essential nature of wisdom in guiding decisions and actions, as seen in the surrounding verses that describe the role of wisdom in governance and justice.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaiah 9:6 | For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. |
| 2 | Isaiah 40:14 | Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding? |
| 3 | John 1:9 | The true Light who gives light to every man was coming into the world. |
| 4 | Romans 11:33–34 | O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways! |
| 5 | 1 Corinthians 1:24–30 | but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 11 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — תּוּשִׁיָּה, ve.tu.shi.Yahgenerated
The noun תּוּשִׁיָּה (tu'shiyah) refers to sound wisdom or efficient understanding, derived from a root that implies support or ability. It encompasses concepts like discernment and successful outcomes, often associated with wise decision-making.
In this verse, the speaker asserts possession of תּוּשִׁיָּה, indicating that wisdom is foundational to their authority and capability. This word suggests that true wisdom leads to effective action and sound judgment.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
The translations generally agree on the meaning of wisdom in this verse.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The main clause is governed by the subject אֲנִי (ani), meaning 'I', followed by two noun phrases: עֵ֭צָה ('etsah) and וְתוּשִׁיָּ֑ה (ve.tu'shi.yah), which describe the speaker's attributes. The structure emphasizes the speaker's identity and the qualities they possess.
The verse is constructed with a clear subject-predicate relationship, where the speaker declares ownership of wisdom and strength, highlighting the importance of these attributes.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates עֵצָה as βουλὴ and תּוּשִׁיָּה as ἀσφάλεια, indicating a focus on wise counsel and security. This choice reflects a broader understanding of wisdom that encompasses not just knowledge but also the ability to act effectively.
The Greek terms chosen in the Septuagint suggest a slight shift in emphasis, highlighting the practical application of wisdom in ensuring safety and sound judgment.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Proverbs 8:14 states that the speaker possesses both counsel and sound wisdom, as well as understanding and strength. This verse emphasizes the importance of wisdom in making decisions and governing justly.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
The speaker is asserting that they possess the qualities of wise advice and sound judgment, which are essential for effective leadership.
This verse is part of a larger passage that discusses the attributes of wisdom and its role in guiding rulers and leaders.
Strength is mentioned to indicate that wisdom is not just theoretical but is also tied to the ability to act decisively and effectively.
We learn that true wisdom encompasses both understanding and the ability to apply that understanding in practical situations.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- In what areas of my life do I need to seek wisdom and counsel?
- How can I apply the principles of sound judgment in my decision-making?
- What does it mean to have strength in the context of wisdom?
- How can I cultivate a deeper understanding of wise counsel in my daily life?
The early church on this verse — how the Fathers read it
Early commentary on this verse emphasizes the significance of wisdom and counsel, arguing that true virtue rests in divine wisdom.
Counsel is mine, equity, etc. Let not human presumption exalt itself, for the fullness of virtues rests in the wisdom of God alone, and from this human weakness receives whatever virtue it has.Early Church Fathers on Proverbs 8 →
Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Proverbs 8:14 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleCounsel [is] mine, and sound wisdom,.... The words and sentiments in this and the following clause are the same with those in Job 12:13; and scent to be taken from thence, which are spoken of God;
Read John Gill on Proverbs 8 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryCounsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. Counsel (is) mine, and sound wisdom. It is only with me that wisdom, solid, salutary, and substantial, in all possible contingencies, is to be found.
Read Robert Jamieson on Proverbs 8 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy BibleSound wisdom: all solid, and substantial, and useful, yea essential wisdom, is natural and essential to me, for the word properly signifies essence. I am understanding, or, my nature and essence, as was now said. Or, I am the author of understanding; as . This is life eternal, i.e. this is the cause or means of it. I have strength courage and resolution to execute all my counsels, and to conquer all difficulties.
Read Matthew Poole on Proverbs 8 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New TestamentsProverbs 8:14 Counsel [is] mine, and sound wisdom: I [am] understanding; I have strength.Ver. 14. Counsel is mine, &c.] Christ is "wise in heart, and mighty in strength," his Church’ s both counsellor and champion; and though she be but a "virgin daughter of Zion," yet she despiseth her adversary, and laughs him to scorn, because she hath one that is in love with her, and will fight her quarrel, who is Aμφοτεροςβασιλευςταγαθος, κρατεροςταιχμητης. Hostibus haud tergo sed forti pectore notus. De Achille Homerus. De Achille Catullus.
Read John Trapp on Proverbs 8 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(14) Sound wisdom.—See above on Proverbs 2:7. Strength.—Comp. Ecclesiastes 7:19. For these various gifts of wisdom, comp. Isaiah 11:2.
Read Charles John Ellicott on Proverbs 8 →AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the BibleVerse 14. Counsel is mine] Direction how to act in all circumstances and on all occasions must come from wisdom: the foolish man can give no counsel, cannot show another how he is to act in the various changes and chances of life. The wise man alone can give this counsel; and he can give it only as continually receiving instruction from God: for this Divine wisdom can say, תושיה TUSHIYAH, substance, reality, essence, all belong to me: I am the Fountain whence all are derived. Man may be wise, and good, and prudent, and ingenious; but these he derives from me, and they are dependently in him. But in me all these are independently and essentially inherent. And sound wisdom] See above. This is…
Read AdamClarke on Proverbs 8 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges14. sound wisdom] So the same word is rendered both by A.V. and R.V. in Proverbs 2:7. Here, however, R.V. renders sound knowledge, and in marg. offers the alternative, effectual working.
Read Cambridge on Proverbs 8 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible14. Counsel is mine, etc. — It is doubtful whether this rendering gives the precise idea of the original.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Proverbs 8 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength.
Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power.
Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength.
Counsel and sound wisdom belong to me; I possess understanding and might.
Tyndale line
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge: I am understanding; I have might.
Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge: I am understanding; I have might.
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
I haue counsell and wisedome: I am vnderstanding, and I haue strength.
Strictly literal
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am intelligence; I have strength.
Mine [is] counsel and substance, I [am] understanding, I have might.
Counsel and substance [are] mine, || I [am] understanding, I have might.
Mine are counsel and sound wisdom: I am understanding; mine is might.
I have good advice and sound wisdom; I am insight; strength belongs to me.
From the Latin
Counsel and equity is mine, prudence is mine, strength is mine.
Simplified
I have advice and good judgment; I know what makes sense, and I have power.
Wise design and good sense are mine; reason and strength are mine.
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint agree on the wording of this verse, with all seven words matching in the Hebrew text. This consistency indicates that the core message has been preserved across these ancient witnesses.
לִֽי־ עֵ֭צָה וְתוּשִׁיָּ֑ה אֲנִ֥י בִ֝ינָ֗ה לִ֣י גְבוּרָֽה׃
7 of the 7 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Proverbs 8:14
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
נִי (ni) — me.
Personal object pronoun - suffix for propositions and verbs without an object: 1st person singular
HR/Sp1bs — Preposition · suffixHR/Sp1bs
עֵצָה (`etsah) refers to counsel or advice, and can also imply a plan or purpose. It is derived from a root meaning to advise or provide guidance. The entries consistently emphasize its use in contexts related to providing counsel or making decisions.
עֵצָה n.f. counsel, advice
base
H6098 עֵצָה counsel, advice
6098 `etsah ay-tsaw'
from 3289; advice; by implication, plan; also
prudence:--advice, advisement, counsel(l-(or)), purpose.
see HEBREW for 03289
עֵצָה (e.tsah) — counsel.
counsel, advice, purpose
N-fs — Noun common · feminine singular absoluteHNcfsa
→ General scriptures concerning Pr 1:5; 9:9; 11:14; 12:15; 15:22; 19:20; 20:18; 24:6; 27:9
→ See PRUDENCE
→ REJECTED Pr 1:24-33
(1) The importance of Seeking
Pr 11:14; 12:15; 13:10; 15:22; 20:18
--SEE Instruction (1), INSTRUCTION
Guidance, (3), GUIDANCE
Counsellors, COUNSELLORS
(2) Wise, Examples of
תּוּשִׁיָּה (tuwshiyah) refers to sound or efficient wisdom and abiding success. It is derived from a root that implies support or ability, encompassing concepts like understanding and enterprise. The term is associated with wisdom that leads to success and effective outcomes.
תּוּשִׁיָּה n.f. sound, efficient wisdom, abiding success
base
H8454 תּוּשִׁיָּה sound, efficient wisdom, abiding success
8454 tuwshiyah too-shee-yaw'
or tushiyah { too-shee-yaw'}; from an unused root probably
meaning to substantiate; support or (by implication) ability,
i.e. (direct) help, (in purpose) an undertaking,
(intellectual) understanding:--enterprise, that which (thing
as it) is, substance, (sound) wisdom, working.
תּוּשִׁיָּה (tu.shiy.yah) — wisdom.
1) wisdom, sound knowledge, success, sound or efficient wisdom, abiding success
1a) sound or efficient wisdom
1b) abiding success (of the effect of sound wisdom)
Conj | N-fs — Conjunction · noun common feminine singular absoluteHC/Ncfsa
wiz'-dum:
1. Linguistic
2. History
3. Religious Basis
4. Ideals
5. Teaching of Christ
6. Remainder of the New Testament
(1) James
(2) Paul
7. Hypostasis
LITERATURE
1. Linguistic:
In the Revised Version (British and American) the noun "wisdom" and its corresponding adjective and verb ("be wise," "act wisely," etc.) represent a variety of Hebrew words: bin (binah, and in the English Revised Version tebunah), sakhal (sekhel, sekhel), lebh (and in the English Revised Version labhabh), tushiyah (and in the English Revised Version Te`em, `ormah, piqqach. None of these, however, is of very frequent occurrence and by far the most common group is the verb chakham, with the adjective chakham, and the nouns chokhmah, chokhmoth, with something over 300 occurrences in the Old Testament (of which rather more than half are in Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes). Cokhmah, accordingly, may be treated as the Hebrew…
אֲנִי, transliterated as aniy, is a first-person singular pronoun meaning 'I' or 'me.' It is often used for emphasis and can also imply possession, as in 'mine' or 'myself.' The word is derived from a form that indicates self-reference, and it appears in various contexts throughout the Old Testament.
אֲנִי, אָ֑נִי pron. 1s. comm. I
base
H589 אֲנִי, אָ֑נִי I
589 'aniy an-ee'
contracted from 595; I:--I, (as for) me, mine, myself, we, X
which, X who.
see HEBREW for 0595
אֲנִי (a.ni) — I.
I (first pers. sing. -usually used for emphasis)
Pron — PronounHPp1bs
בִּינָה (biynah) means understanding and encompasses the act, faculty, and object of knowledge, even personified in some contexts. It is derived from the root meaning to discern or comprehend. The Aramaic equivalent is בִּינָה (H0999).
בִּינָה n.f. understanding
the act
the faculty
the object of knowledge
personified
base
H998 בִּינָה understanding . the act
. the faculty
. the object of knowledge
. personified
998 biynah bee-naw'
from 995; understanding:--knowledge, meaning, X perfectly,
understanding, wisdom.
see HEBREW for 0995
בִּינָה (bi.nah) — understanding.
1) understanding, discernment
1a) act
1b) faculty
1c) object
1d) personified
Aramaic equivalent: bi.nah (בִּינָה "understanding" H0999)
N-fs — Noun common · feminine singular absoluteHNcfsa
נִי (ni) — me.
Personal object pronoun - suffix for propositions and verbs without an object: 1st person singular
HR/Sp1bs — Preposition · suffixHR/Sp1bs
גְּבוּרָה (gbuwrah) refers to strength or might, encompassing concepts of valor and bravery. It is derived from a root related to force and power, often used in a figurative sense. The term can denote not only human strength but also the might of God, highlighting its significance in both personal and divine contexts.
גְּבוּרָה 61 n.f. strength, might
strength
might, valour
might of God
base
H1369 גְּבוּרָה strength, might
1369 gbuwrah gheb-oo-raw'
feminine passive participle from the same as 1368; force
(literally or figuratively); by implication, valor, victory:--
force, mastery, might, mighty (act, power), power, strength.
see HEBREW for 01368
גְּבוּרָה (ge.vu.rah) — might.
1) strength, might
1a) strength
1b) might, valour, bravery
1c) might, mighty deeds (of God)
Aramaic equivalent: ge.vu.rah (גְּבוּרָה "might" H1370)
N-fs — Noun common · feminine singular absoluteHNcfsa
→ A title given to Jehovah 1Sa 15:29