"All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them."
Proverbs 8:8
The eighth chapter of Proverbs has been called “Wisdom’s Resumé” (see Eerdmans). [1] In this chapter, we see Wisdom personified and calling out from the top of the hill (v. 2) near the entrance to the city (v. 3) to passersby, people who need her wares. Verses 6-11 zero in on her integrity. Those who listen to her need to pay attention to what she says. In our verse for today, she is telling us –
“Everything I say is right; there is nothing false or crooked about it” [2] (Proverbs 8:8, HSB).
“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness.”
God’s Wisdom will only tell us true words.
“For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips” (Proverbs 8:7).
“For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee” [3] (Job 36:4).
Wisdom speaks to us with words of “justice, rightness,” and “righteousness” [4] (BDB).
“The idea is that wisdom’s words correspond to reality; therefore, they are right (“upright or straight”… “faultless” in Proverbs 8:9), true, and just (see 1:3; 8:15, 20)” [5] (BKC).
“There is nothing froward or perverse in them.”
Wisdom’s words are unfailingly honest. There is nothing froward (“crooked”) or perverse (“distorted” or “false”) in them. [6] (Strong).
“Crooked is the opposite of “upright” (v. 7); it means “twisted” (11:20) or “distorted” (28:6)” [7] (CSB).
“…none of wisdom’s words are crooked (“twisted”) or perverse…. They also point in the right direction” [8] (BKC).
In short, anything that Wisdom tells us may be trusted entirely, for she is a woman of the highest integrity. This characterization of wisdom reminds us that our God is a righteous God, and He only speaks to us in His Word the truth, each word is right, and what we need to hear and know. Trust His Word!
Quote: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6).
[1] Gordon D. Fee and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., eds., The Eerdmans Companion to the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2011), 358.
[2] HSB is the Harvest Study Bible from Harvest Ministries in Guam.
[3] The words of Elihu to Job.
[4] BDB – Brown, Driver, Briggs. Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.
[5] BKC, Sid S. Buzzell, “Proverbs,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 921.
[6] HGD – James Strong. Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, the electronic version in eSword.
[7] CSB, David K. Stabnow, “Proverbs,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 956. These definitions for “crooked” are given in Proverbs 2:15.
[8] BKC, ibid.