926 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For wisdom [is] better than rubies,.... A sort of precious stones: or, "than precious stones" (z) in general; so the Targum and Septuagint, Arabic and Syriac versions; even than all of them, as the Vulgate Latin version; or, than "pearls" (a), or "carbuncles" (b): there are none equal to it, nor is it to be procured by them; see Job 28:16; and all...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I Wisdom dwell with Prudence,.... Here Wisdom begins to speak in her own person, and continues to do so unto the end of the chapter; or Christ describes himself, pencils out and draws his own picture, and a most lovely one it is. In this clause Christ is described by the habitation in which he dwells, "I Wisdom inhabit Prudence" (c); so the words...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The fear of the Lord [is] to hate evil,.... All evil in general, evil thoughts, evil words, evil actions, evil company, evil worship, and evil doctrines; and by "the fear of the Lord", which shows itself in an hatred of evil, because of the loathsome nature of it, and being contrary to God and his will, and as it appears in the glass of the law,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Counsel [is] mine, and sound wisdom,.... The words and sentiments in this and the following clause are the same with those in Job 12:13; and scent to be taken from thence, which are spoken of God; and being here applied to Wisdom, show that a divine Person is meant; and are very applicable to him who the Wisdom of God, and the power of God; and on...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
By me kings reign,.... Christ is the Prince of the kings of the earth, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; they are made kings by him, and are under him; he sets them up, and deposes them at pleasure; they have their kingdoms, crowns, and sceptres from him, and are accountable to him. The Syriac version renders it, "for me"; it is for the sake...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
By me princes rule,.... All governors of provinces and cities, who are under the king as supreme; the discharge of whose office in a right manner requires much wisdom, prudence, justice, and integrity; all which they have from Christ, as well as their power of ruling, that rule well; and nobles, [even] all the judges of the earth; the word (e) for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I love them that love me,.... Those that love Christ are such who are born again, and have a spiritual and experimental knowledge of him; that believe in him, have seen his loveliness, have had his love shed abroad in their hearts, and a view of his fulness and suitableness; some comfortable apprehensions of their relation to him, and interest in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Riches and honour [are] with me,.... By "riches" are meant not the riches of Christ's person, the perfections of his nature, his works, and his vast empire over all creatures, and the revenues arising from thence, which though durable, yet not communicable; not temporal riches, which, though with him, and at his dispose, yet these, at least a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My fruit [is] better than gold, yea, than fine gold,.... This is said in allusion to the fruit that grows on trees, Wisdom, or Christ, being a tree of life, [See comments on Proverbs 3:18]; and so he is compared to other trees, So 2:3. His "fruit" are the blessings of grace, such as redemption, reconciliation, pardon, justification, adoption, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I lead in the way of righteousness,.... As a king his subjects, a shepherd his flock; as a guide to persons that are ignorant and out of the way; as parents their children, teaching them to go; or as a master his scholars: and the way Wisdom, or Christ, leads his people in, is "the way of righteousness"; the doctrine of righteousness, or the way...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance,.... Substantial blessings, blessings indeed, as all spiritual ones are; and substantial grace, as every grace is; and substantial communion with God and Christ, which is a real thing, and had in the way of righteousness; also substantial happiness hereafter, as eternal life is; which being...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way,.... Not "created me", as the Targum and the Septuagint version; which version Arius following gave birth to his pernicious doctrine; who from hence concluded Christ is a creature, and was the first creature that God made, not of the same but of a like nature with himself, in some moment or period...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I was set up from everlasting,.... I, a person, and not a quality; a person, and not a nature; the person of Christ as the Son of God, and not the human nature of Christ, which then did not exist; this phrase designs the ordination and constitution of Christ in his office as Mediator. So the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "I was ordained";...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When [there were] no depths, I was brought forth,.... Not only in the decree of God, as the head of the elect; foreordained to be the Redeemer of them, and to be the propitiation for their sins; and appointed the Judge of the world, and heir of all things; but "was begotten", as the Targum and Syriac version; the Septuagint is, "he begot me"; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Before the mountains were settled,.... "Plunged" (l), or fixed in the earth; and which was done by the great strength of the Lord, upon their proper bases, Psalms 65:6; and which were "aborigine", or from the beginning of the world, and therefore called the ancient mountains, Deuteronomy 33:15; to be before the mountains is a periphrasis of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
While as yet he had not made the earth,.... That is, the Lord, who possessed Wisdom, or Christ, and by whom he was set up; he as yet had not made the earth, when this was done; this shows that the earth had a beginning, contrary to those philosophers who asserted the eternity of it; that Christ was before that was, for it was made by him; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he prepared the heavens, I [was] there,.... Made, beautified, and adorned them; when he gave them their form, figure, magnitude, and motion; when he garnished them with the sun, moon, and stars; then was Christ present, not as a mere spectator, but as a co-worker; see Hebrews 1:10; and even the third heaven, the place and state of glorified...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he established the clouds above,.... In which the waters are bound, and yet are not rent under them; and where, in the thin air, they hang heavy with them; where they are weighed by measure, and a decree made for them when they shall fall; and when they do, the Lord makes small the drops of water, which the clouds do drop and distil on men...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment,.... A perpetual decree, which never has been altered nor never will: he has placed the sand for the bounds of the sea everywhere, which it cannot pass, though its waves toss, foam, and roar; this is his decreed place, with which he has shut it up, as with doors,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I was by him, [as] one brought up [with him],.... He was then, and from all eternity, "by him", or "with him" (q); which denotes his co-existence with God, and his relation to him as his Father; his nearness to him, his equality with him, and his distinction from him: he was by him when the names of God's elect were put down in the book of...