More Precious Than Rubies: What Does Proverbs 3:15 Mean?


Proverbs 3:15 reads, “She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.” King James Version (KJV)

TranslationProverbs 3:15
ESVShe is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
NASBShe is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her.
NIVShe is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.
NLTWisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

More Precious Than Rubies: Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

3:13-20 No precious jewels or earthly treasures are worthy to be compared with true wisdom, whether the concerns of time or eternity be considered. We must make wisdom our business; we must venture all in it, and be willing to part with all for it.

This Wisdom is the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation, sought and obtained by faith and prayer. Were it not for unbelief, remaining sinfulness, and carelessness, we should find all our ways pleasantness, and our paths peace, for his are so; but we too often step aside from them, to our own hurt and grief.

Christ is that Wisdom, by whom the worlds were made, and still are in being; happy are those to whom he is made of God wisdom. He has wherewithal to make good all his promises.

Proverbs 3:15 | Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Rubies – The פנינים pânı̂ynı̂ym were among the costly articles of traffic, and red or rose-colored Lamentations 4:7.

The last fact has led some to identify them with coral, or (as in the King James Version) with “rubies.” Most commentators, however, have identified them with pearls, which may connect this passage with Matthew 7:6; Matthew 13:45. The words of the promise here are almost the echo of 1 Kings 3:11-13.

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