Proverbs 2:3

THE MESSAGE

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,

Contemporary English Version
Beg as loud as you can for good common sense.

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 Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life. Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding. That's right—if you make Insight your priority, and won't take no for an answer, Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt, Believe me, before you know it Fear-of- God will be yours; you'll have come upon the Knowledge of God. ⁶And here's why: God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding. He's a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere. He keeps his eye on all who live honestly, and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones. ⁹So now you can pick out what's true and fair, find all the good trails! Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion. Good Sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you. They'll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions Of those who are lost themselves and can't tell a trail from a tumbleweed, These losers who make a game of evil and throw parties to celebrate perversity, Traveling paths that go nowhere, wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.

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
By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done. This is the story of how it all started, of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Genesis 2:8
Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.

Genesis 2:10
A river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there divides into four rivers. The first is named Pishon; it flows through Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is good. The land is also known for a sweet-scented resin and the onyx stone. The second river is named Gihon; it flows through the land of Cush. The third river is named Hiddekel and flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:15
God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.

Genesis 2:21
God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

Exodus 23:12
"Work for six days and rest the seventh so your ox and donkey may rest and your servant and migrant workers may have time to get their needed rest.

Exodus 34:21
"Work six days and rest the seventh. Stop working even during plowing and harvesting.

Leviticus 23:3
"Work six days. The seventh day is a Sabbath, a day of total and complete rest, a sacred assembly. Don't do any work. Wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to God .

Proverbs 10:22
God 's blessing makes life rich; nothing we do can improve on God.

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.