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Proverbs 2 Bible study: If you seek her as silver

The son is told to "store up" the words (2:1), and the LORD "lays up sound wisdom for the upright" (2:7): one Hebrew verb, tsafan. And the search "as silver" (2:4) ends in something that isn't silver: "then you will understand the fear of the LORD" (2:5).

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“For the LORD gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.”
Proverbs 2:6 · World English Bible

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“Proverbs 2 says that the one who seeks "as silver" will understand the fear of the LORD.”

Is that in Proverbs 2, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

Three ifs and two thens

In the text

The chapter is one voice speaking to one hearer: "My son" (2:1). It doesn't name the speaker; the book has already set before the son "your father’s instruction" and "your mother’s teaching" (1:8). It opens with a condition: "if you will receive my words" (2:1), "yes, if you call out for discernment" (2:3), "if you seek her as silver" (2:4). Then comes what follows: "then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God" (2:5), and again, "Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path" (2:9). In the WEB the first five verses are one sentence. In Hebrew the three ifs are the one word im (2:1, 2:3, 2:4), and the two thens the one word az (2:5, 2:9). Between the two thens the chapter gives the reason: "For the LORD gives wisdom" (2:6).

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That was a taste

The rest of Proverbs 2 is waiting in Favor

  • Kept, to be delivered
  • Count the roads
  • Stored up, laid up, hidden
  • Ask of God, who gives
  • Said again in chapter 7
  • 8 questions as you read
  • 14 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

צָפַןtsafansay tsa-FAN

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "hide, treasure up". Strong's: "to hide (by covering over); by implication, to hoard or reserve". The son is to "store up my commandments within you" (2:1), and the LORD "lays up sound wisdom for the upright" (2:7): one verb for both. Proverbs has it nine times in Hebrew. Chapter 1 has it for the sinners who say, "Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause" (1:11), and chapter 7 opens with it: "Lay up my commandments within you" (7:1). Another saying has it too: "Wise men lay up knowledge" (10:14).

For your group

Proverbs 2 Bible study questions

  1. 1The chapter asks the son to seek "as silver" and "as for hidden treasures" (2:4). What have you ever searched for that hard? What would searching for understanding like that look like in your week?
  2. 2"Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you" (2:11). Can you think of a time when understanding something, or someone's wise word, kept you off a road you would have regretted?
  3. 3"Therefore walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous" (2:20). Whose way of living has helped you walk well? What did you learn from watching them?

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home