Show Bible Commentary For A Bible Verse

Click here to show/hide instructions.

Selected Verse: Proverbs 3:19 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Pr 3:19	Strong Concordance	The LORD [03068] by wisdom [02451] hath founded [03245] the earth [0776]; by understanding [08394] hath he established [03559] the heavens [08064].
	King James	The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

Open All | Close All Open All | Close All

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
The place of wisdom in the economy of creation and providence commends it to men, who, in proportion to their finite powers, may possess this invaluable attribute, and are thus encouraged by the divine example of its use to seek its possession.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

The place of wisdom in the economy of creation and providence commends it to men, who, in proportion to their finite powers, may possess this invaluable attribute, and are thus encouraged by the divine example of its use to seek its possession.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Hereto Wisdom has been thought of in relation to men. Now the question comes, What is she in relation to God? and the answer is, that the creative act implies a Divine Wisdom, through which the Divine will acts. This thought, developed in Prov. 8, is the first link in the chain which connects this "Wisdom" with the Divine Word, the Logos of John's Gospel. Compare Psa 33:6; Joh 1:3. The words of the writer of the Proverbs take their place among the proofs of the dogmatic statements of the Nicene Creed.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
This place of a mediatrix - the speaker here now continues - she had from the beginning. God's world-creating work was mediated by her: 19 Jahve hath by wisdom founded the earth, Established the heavens by understanding. 20 By His knowledge the water-floods broke forth, And the sky dropped down dew. That wisdom is meant by which God planned the world-idea, and now also wrought it out; the wisdom in which God conceived the world ere it was framed, and by which also He gave external realization to His thoughts; the wisdom which is indeed an attribute of God and a characteristic of His actions, since she is a property of His nature, and His nature attests itself in her, but not less, as appears, not from this group of tetrastichs, but from all that has hitherto been said, and form the personal testimony, Pro 8:22., of which it is the praeludium, she goes forth as a divine power to which God has given to have life in herself. Considered apart from the connection of these discourses, this group of verses, as little as Jer 10:2; Psa 104:24, determines regarding the attributive interpretation; the Jerusalem Targum, I, when it translates, Gen 1:1, בראשׁית by בּחוּכמא (בּחוּכמתא), combines Pro 8:22 with such passages as this before us. יסד (here with the tone thrown back) properly signifies, like the Arab. wasad, to lay fast, to found, for one gives to a fact the firm basis of its existence. The parallel Pil. of כּוּן (Arab. kân, cogn. כהן, see on Isaiah, p. 691) signifies to set up, to restore; here equivalent to, to give existence. Pro 3:20 It is incorrect to understand 20a, with the Targ., of division, i.e., separating the water under the firmament from the water above the firmament; נבקע is spoken of water, especially of its breaking forth, Gen 7:11; Exo 14:21, cf. Psa 74:15, properly dividing itself out, i.e., welling forth from the bowels of the earth; it means, without distinguishing the primordial waters and the later water-floods confined within their banks (cf. Job 38:8., Psa 104:6-8), the overflowing of the earth for the purpose of its processes of cultivation and the irrigation of the land. תּהומות (from הוּם = המה, to groan, to roar) are chiefly the internal water stores of the earth, Gen 49:25; Psa 33:7. But while 20a is to be understood of the waters under the firmament, 20b is to be interpreted of those above. שׁחקים (from שׁחק, Arab. sḥaḳ, comminuere, attenuare) properly designates the uppermost stratum of air thinly and finely stretching itself far and wide, and then poetically the clouds of heaven (vid., under Psa 77:18). Another name, עריפים, comes from ערף, which is transposed from רעף (here used in 20b), Arab. r'af, to drop, to run. The טל added on the object accusative represents synecdochically all the waters coming down from heaven and fructifying the earth. This watering proceeds from above (ורעפו); on the contrary, the endowing of the surface of the earth with great and small rivers is a fundamental fact in creation (נבקעו).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

This place of a mediatrix - the speaker here now continues - she had from the beginning. God's world-creating work was mediated by her:

19 Jahve hath by wisdom founded the earth,

Established the heavens by understanding.

20 By His knowledge the water-floods broke forth,

And the sky dropped down dew.

That wisdom is meant by which God planned the world-idea, and now also wrought it out; the wisdom in which God conceived the world ere it was framed, and by which also He gave external realization to His thoughts; the wisdom which is indeed an attribute of God and a characteristic of His actions, since she is a property of His nature, and His nature attests itself in her, but not less, as appears, not from this group of tetrastichs, but from all that has hitherto been said, and form the personal testimony, Pro 8:22., of which it is the praeludium, she goes forth as a divine power to which God has given to have life in herself. Considered apart from the connection of these discourses, this group of verses, as little as Jer 10:2; Psa 104:24, determines regarding the attributive interpretation; the Jerusalem Targum, I, when it translates, Gen 1:1, בראשׁית by בּחוּכמא (בּחוּכמתא), combines Pro 8:22 with such passages as this before us. יסד (here with the tone thrown back) properly signifies, like the Arab. wasad, to lay fast, to found, for one gives to a fact the firm basis of its existence. The parallel Pil. of כּוּן (Arab. kân, cogn. כהן, see on Isaiah, p. 691) signifies to set up, to restore; here equivalent to, to give existence.

Pro 3:20

It is incorrect to understand 20a, with the Targ., of division, i.e., separating the water under the firmament from the water above the firmament; נבקע is spoken of water, especially of its breaking forth, Gen 7:11; Exo 14:21, cf. Psa 74:15, properly dividing itself out, i.e., welling forth from the bowels of the earth; it means, without distinguishing the primordial waters and the later water-floods confined within their banks (cf. Job 38:8., Psa 104:6-8), the overflowing of the earth for the purpose of its processes of cultivation and the irrigation of the land. תּהומות (from הוּם = המה, to groan, to roar) are chiefly the internal water stores of the earth, Gen 49:25; Psa 33:7. But while 20a is to be understood of the waters under the firmament, 20b is to be interpreted of those above. שׁחקים (from שׁחק, Arab. sḥaḳ, comminuere, attenuare) properly designates the uppermost stratum of air thinly and finely stretching itself far and wide, and then poetically the clouds of heaven (vid., under Psa 77:18). Another name, עריפים, comes from ערף, which is transposed from רעף (here used in 20b), Arab. r'af, to drop, to run. The טל added on the object accusative represents synecdochically all the waters coming down from heaven and fructifying the earth. This watering proceeds from above (ורעפו); on the contrary, the endowing of the surface of the earth with great and small rivers is a fundamental fact in creation (נבקעו).

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Wisdom - Either by Christ, or by that Divine perfection of wisdom, which is the fountain of wisdom in man.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth - Here wisdom is taken in its proper acceptation, for that infinite knowledge and skill which God has manifested in the creation and composition of the earth, and in the structure and economy of the heavens. He has established the order as well as the essence of all things; so that though they vary in their positions, etc., yet they never change either their places, or their properties. Composition and analysis are not essential changes; the original particles, their forms and properties, remain the same.

Top

³ All things [3956] were made [1096] by [1223] him [846]; and [2532] without [5565] him [846] was [1096] not [3761] any thing [1520] made [1096] that [3739] was made [1096].

⁶ By the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] were the heavens [08064] made [06213]; and all the host [06635] of them by the breath [07307] of his mouth [06310].

¹⁸ The voice [06963] of thy thunder [07482] was in the heaven [01534]: the lightnings [01300] lightened [0215] the world [08398]: the earth [0776] trembled [07264] and shook [07493].

⁷ He gathereth [03664] the waters [04325] of the sea [03220] together as an heap [05067]: he layeth up [05414] the depth [08415] in storehouses [0214].

²⁵ Even by the God [0410] of thy father [01], who shall help [05826] thee; and by [0854] the Almighty [07706], who shall bless [01288] thee with blessings [01293] of heaven [08064] above [05920], blessings [01293] of the deep [08415] that lieth [07257] under, blessings [01293] of the breasts [07699], and of the womb [07356]:

⁶ Thou coveredst [03680] it with the deep [08415] as with a garment [03830]: the waters [04325] stood [05975] above the mountains [02022].
⁷ At [04480] thy rebuke [01606] they fled [05127]; at the voice [06963] of thy thunder [07482] they hasted [02648] away.
⁸ They go up [05927] by the mountains [02022]; they go down [03381] by the valleys [01237] unto the place [04725] which [02088] thou hast founded [03245] for them.

⁸ Or who shut up [05526] the sea [03220] with doors [01817], when it brake forth [01518], as if it had issued out [03318] of the womb [07358]?

¹⁵ Thou didst cleave [01234] the fountain [04599] and the flood [05158]: thou driedst up [03001] mighty [0386] rivers [05104].

²¹ And Moses [04872] stretched out [05186] his hand [03027] over the sea [03220]; and the LORD [03068] caused the sea [03220] to go [03212] back by a strong [05794] east [06921] wind [07307] all that night [03915], and made [07760] the sea [03220] dry [02724] land, and the waters [04325] were divided [01234].

¹¹ In [08141] the six [08337] hundredth [03967] year [08141] of Noah's [05146] life [02416], in the second [08145] month [02320], the seventeenth [07651] [06240] day [03117] of the month [02320], the same [02088] day [03117] were all the fountains [04599] of the great [07227] deep [08415] broken up [01234], and the windows [0699] of heaven [08064] were opened [06605].

²⁰ By his knowledge [01847] the depths [08415] are broken up [01234], and the clouds [07834] drop down [07491] the dew [02919].

²² The LORD [03068] possessed [07069] me in the beginning [07225] of his way [01870], before [06924] his works [04659] of old.

¹ In the beginning [07225] God [0430] created [01254] [0853] the heaven [08064] and [0853] the earth [0776].

²⁴ O LORD [03068], how manifold [07231] are thy works [04639]! in wisdom [02451] hast thou made [06213] them all: the earth [0776] is full [04390] of thy riches [07075].

² Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068], Learn [03925] not the way [01870] of the heathen [01471], and be not dismayed [02865] at the signs [0226] of heaven [08064]; for the heathen [01471] are dismayed [02865] at them [01992].

²² The LORD [03068] possessed [07069] me in the beginning [07225] of his way [01870], before [06924] his works [04659] of old.