Proverbs 7:4

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”and call understanding your relative.

Hebrew Names Version
Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

King James Version
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:

English Standard Version
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend,

New Century Version
Treat wisdom as a sister, and make understanding your closest friend.

New English Translation
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call understanding a close relative,

Amplified Bible
Say to [skillful and godly] wisdom, "You are my sister," And regard understanding and intelligent insight as your intimate friends;

New American Standard Bible
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," And call understanding your intimate friend,

World English Bible
Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Say vnto wisedome, Thou art my sister: and call vnderstanding thy kinswoman,

Legacy Standard Bible
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"And call understanding your intimate friend;

Berean Standard Bible
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call understanding your kinsman,

Contemporary English Version
Let wisdom be your sister and make common sense your closest friend.

Complete Jewish Bible
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister"; call understanding your kinswoman;

Darby Translation
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call intelligence [thy] kinswoman:

Easy-to-Read Version
Treat wisdom like the woman you love and knowledge like the one dearest to you.

George Lamsa Translation
Say to wisdom, You are my sister; and to understanding, You are my counselor

Good News Translation
Treat wisdom as your sister, and insight as your closest friend.

Lexham English Bible
Say to wisdom, "you are my sister," and you shall call insight, "intimate friend."

Literal Translation
Say to wisdom, You are my sister, and call understanding your kinsman,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Saye vnto wysdome: thou art my sister, and call vnderstondinge thy kynswoman:

American Standard Version
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understanding thy kinswoman:

Bible in Basic English
Say to wisdom, You are my sister; let knowledge be named your special friend:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Say unto wisdom: 'Thou art my sister', and call understanding thy kinswoman;

King James Version (1611)
Say vnto Wisedome, Thou art my sister, and call Understanding thy kinse woman,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Say vnto wysdome, thou art my sister: and call vnderstanding thy kinsewoman:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Say that wisdom is thy sister, and gain prudence as an acquaintance for thyself;

English Revised Version
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Seie thou to wisdom, Thou art my sistir; and clepe thou prudence thi frendesse.

Update Bible Version
Say to wisdom, You are my sister; And call understanding [your] kinswoman:

Webster's Bible Translation
Say to wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman:

New King James Version
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," And call understanding your nearest kin,

New Living Translation
Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a beloved member of your family.

New Life Bible
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your special friend.

New Revised Standard
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Say unto wisdom, My sister, thou! and, an acquaintance, call thou, understanding:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Say to wisdom: Thou art my sister: and call prudence thy friend,

Revised Standard Version
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend;

Young's Literal Translation
Say to wisdom, `My sister Thou [art].' And cry to understanding, `Kinswoman!'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," And call understanding your intimate friend;

Contextual Overview

¹ Dear friend, do what I tell you; treasure my careful instructions. Do what I say and you'll live well. My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it! Write it out on the back of your hands; etch it on the chambers of your heart. Talk to Wisdom as to a sister. Treat Insight as your companion. They'll be with you to fend off the Temptress— that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Say: Proverbs 2:2-4, Proverbs 4:6-8

Thou: Job 17:14, Song of Solomon 8:1, Matthew 12:49, Matthew 12:50, Luke 11:27, Luke 11:28

Reciprocal: Proverbs 1:2 - General Proverbs 4:1 - attend Proverbs 6:21 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 2:5
At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground— God hadn't yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)— God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!

Genesis 6:3
Then God said, "I'm not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they're going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years."

Genesis 6:13
God said to Noah, "It's all over. It's the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I'm making a clean sweep.

Genesis 6:17
"I'm going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.

Genesis 7:11
It was the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 7:17
The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered—the high-water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. Everything died. Anything that moved—dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life—dead. And all people—dead. Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; he wiped out the whole works—people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.

Genesis 8:10
He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished.

Genesis 8:12
He waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn't come back.

Psalms 69:28
Strike their names from the list of the living; No rock-carved honor for them among the righteous.

Amos 4:7
"Yes, and I'm the One who stopped the rains three months short of harvest. I'd make it rain on one village but not on another. I'd make it rain on one field but not on another—and that one would dry up. People would stagger from village to village crazed for water and never quenching their thirst. But you never got thirsty for me. You ignored me." God 's Decree.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Say unto wisdom, Thou art [my] sister,.... Intimately acquainted, greatly beloved, and highly delighted in: this may be understood both of the Gospel, the wisdom of God in a mystery, which men should be conversant with, be strongly affected to, and take delight and pleasure in; and of Christ, the essential Wisdom of God, and who stands in the relation of a brother to his people, and should be respected as such;

and call understanding [thy] kinswoman; or "kinsman" a; such Christ is in our nature, our "goel", our near kinsman, partaker of the same flesh and blood, and therefore is not ashamed to call us brethren, nor should we be ashamed to call him kinsman: moreover, his Word and Gospel, and the understanding of it, should be familiar to us; it should be well "known" b by us, as the word used signifies, and dwell richly in us.

a מדע "cognatum", Piscator. b "Notam", Montanus, Michaelis.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 7:4. Thou art my sister — Thou art my dearest friend, and I will treat thee as such.