What does Proverbs 8:9 mean?
Prior verses compared the truthfulness of godly wisdom to speech which is corrupt, crooked, or false (Proverbs 8:8).Submission to God and His truth is presented in the Bible as a prerequisite for true discernment (John 7:17). Those who have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit can more clearly understand God's Word (1 Corinthians 2:14). However, those who have not trusted in Christ, the source of all wisdom, fail to understand the Bible. The apostle Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 4:3–4 affirm this fact. He writes: "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
Also, in 1 Corinthians 2:7–10, Paul writes: "But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this… But as it is written 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit."
