Proverbs 1 · a question people ask
Who is Wisdom in 1:20-33? Is she Jesus?
The chapter says, "Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares" (1:20), and gives her words in 1:22-33. It speaks of wisdom as a woman who calls, and it says no more than that about who she is. Wisdom speaks again in chapters 8 and 9 (Proverbs 8:1-4, 9:1-6), and Christians read her words in chapter 8 in more than one way. The honest question on Proverbs 8 sets out the main readings, each with its verses, and chooses none. Nothing in chapter 1 settles it, and these notes don't either. What chapter 1 does say is what she asks, "Turn at my reproof" (1:23), and what she says of whoever listens: "But whoever listens to me will dwell securely" (1:33).
The verses
“Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.”
“Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice? On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands. Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud: “I call to you men! I send my voice to the sons of mankind.”
“Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars. She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, “Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed! Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding.””