Proverbs 2:3

Contemporary English Version

Beg as loud as you can for good common sense.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
furthermore, if you call out to insightand lift your voice to understanding,

Hebrew Names Version
Yes, if you call out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding;

King James Version
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

English Standard Version
yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,

New Century Version
Cry out for wisdom, and beg for understanding.

New English Translation
indeed, if you call out for discernment— raise your voice for understanding—

Amplified Bible
Yes, if you cry out for insight, And lift up your voice for understanding;

New American Standard Bible
For if you cry out for insight, And raise your voice for understanding;

World English Bible
Yes, if you call out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding;

Geneva Bible (1587)
(For if thou callest after knowledge, and cryest for vnderstanding:

Legacy Standard Bible
For if you call out for understanding,Give your voice for discernment;

Berean Standard Bible
if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

Complete Jewish Bible
yes, if you will call for insight and raise your voice for discernment,

Darby Translation
yea, if thou criest after discernment [and] liftest up thy voice to understanding;

Easy-to-Read Version
Ask for good judgment. Cry out for understanding.

George Lamsa Translation
Yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice to understanding,

Good News Translation
Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight.

Lexham English Bible
For if you cry out for understanding, if you lift your voice for insight,

Literal Translation
For if you cry for discernment, lifting up your voice for understanding;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For yf thou criest after wy?dome, & callest for knowlege:

American Standard Version
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;

Bible in Basic English
Truly, if you are crying out for good sense, and your request is for knowledge;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Yea, if thou call for understanding, and lift up thy voice for discernment;

King James Version (1611)
Yea if thou cryest after knowledge, and liftest vp thy voyce for vnderstanding:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For if thou cryest after wisdome, and cryest for knowledge:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For it thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding;

English Revised Version
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, and lift up thy voice for understanding;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For if thou inwardli clepist wisdom, and bowist thin herte to prudence;

Update Bible Version
Yes, if you cry after discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding;

Webster's Bible Translation
Yes, if thou criest after knowledge, [and] liftest up thy voice for understanding;

New King James Version
Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,

New Living Translation
Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.

New Life Bible
If you cry out to know right from wrong, and lift your voice for understanding;

New Revised Standard
if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Yea if, for understanding, thou cry aloud, for knowledge, utter thy voice;

Douay-Rheims Bible
For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence:

Revised Standard Version
yes, if you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,

Young's Literal Translation
For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;

Contextual Overview

¹ My child, you must follow and treasure my teachings and my instructions. ² Keep in tune with wisdom and think what it means to have common sense. ³ Beg as loud as you can for good common sense. ⁴ Search for wisdom as you would search for silver or hidden treasure. ⁵ Then you will understand what it means to respect and to know the Lord God. ⁶ All wisdom comes from the Lord , and so do common sense and understanding. ⁷ God gives helpful advice to everyone who obeys him and protects all of those who live as they should. ⁸ God sees that justice is done, and he watches over everyone who is faithful to him. ⁹ With wisdom you will learn what is right and honest and fair.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

if: Proverbs 3:6, Proverbs 8:17, 1 Kings 3:9-12, 1 Chronicles 22:12, Psalms 25:4, Psalms 25:5, Psalms 119:34, Psalms 119:73, Psalms 119:125, Psalms 119:169, Luke 11:13, Ephesians 1:17, Ephesians 1:18, James 1:5

liftest up thy voice: Heb. givest thy voice

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 10:1 - concerning Job 5:27 - we have searched Proverbs 8:34 - watching John 7:28 - whom Acts 10:2 - and prayed Philippians 3:15 - God 2 Timothy 2:7 - and

Cross-References

Genesis 2:2

The Seventh Day

By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested.

Genesis 2:3
God blessed the seventh day and made it special because on that day he rested from his work.

Genesis 2:4
That's how God created the heavens and the earth. When the Lord God made the heavens and the earth,

Genesis 2:7
The Lord God took a handful of soil and made a man. God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing.

Genesis 2:8
The Lord made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there.

Genesis 2:10
From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers.

Genesis 2:11
The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah,

Genesis 2:12
where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found.

Genesis 2:13
The second is the Gihon River that winds through Ethiopia.

Genesis 2:14
The Tigris River that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the Euphrates River.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,.... Of God, Christ, and the Gospel; not only bow the ear and bend the mind to these things, but importunately and fervently pray for them; not only attend the ministry of the word by men, but cry to God to give the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of divine and spiritual things; which supposes some sense of a want of it, an hearty desire for it, having some apprehension of the worth and value of it; and that it is to be had, as there is indeed great reason to hope for and expect it, James 1:5;

[and] liftest up thy voice for understanding; for Christ, who is understanding as well as wisdom, Proverbs 8:14; or rather for an understanding of the Gospel and the mysteries of it, which men do not naturally understand; and for which there must be an understanding given, or the eyes of the understanding must be enlightened; or Christ, by his spirit and grace, must open the understanding, that it may understand these things; which is granted to those who lift up their voice in prayer for it.