Daily Verse Daily Verse by Faithlife | Proverbs 3:5-6
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3:5 Trust Yahweh Since wisdom comes from Yahweh (Prov 2:6), He must be trusted. This often involves relying on God’s wisdom rather than human wisdom (v. 7).
Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Pr 3:5). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
3:5 To trust anything or anyone other than the Lord results in disaster (11:28; 28:26; cp. Ps 52:7; 62:10; Is 30:12–13; Ezk 16:15). To rely on something—a synonym for “trust”—is to lean on it as if it were a crutch (2Sm 1:6; Jb 8:14–15; Is 50:10). Understanding is good (16:16), but only if it is from the Lord (9:10).
3:6 To know God in all your ways is to invite his presence into all daily activities and decisions. Make your paths straight (or smooth) means that God will make righteousness attainable.
Stabnow, D. K. (2017). Proverbs. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 957). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
5. Trust … heart—This is the center and marrow of true wisdom (Pr 22:19; 28:25). The positive duty has its corresponding negation in the admonition against self-confidence.
6. ways—(Ps 1:1).
acknowledge—by seeking His wise aid (Pr 16:3; Ps 37:5; Je 9:23, 24).
direct—literally, “make plain” (compare Heb 12:13).
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 391). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
The Torah and the Prophets would agree that the opposite of trusting Yahweh is trusting in oneself, or leaning on one’s own understanding. The Hebrew word for “lean” can refer to someone literally or metaphorically leaning on someone else’s hand or arm, and it reminds me again of Joe’s painting. Proverbs invites us to lean on the arm of Yahweh that grasps us.
To put it another way, trusting in one’s own understanding is to be wise in one’s own eyes. Proverbs 26:12 will declare that making this mistake puts someone into a worse situation than simply being a fool. Admittedly, one may not realize that one is falling into this trap. The phrase refers to people who have acquired a little wisdom, and know it, and think they have arrived. There’s at least the possibility that a fool may “come to his senses,” as we say, and seek wisdom, but someone who thinks that they have already found it may have less chance to do so.
The chapter refers twice more to trust. It declares that people who pay attention to wisdom will go their way with trust. Their trust will not turn out to have been misplaced; their foot will not trip. It makes the same point in different words when it promises that Yahweh will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared. The Hebrew word for “confidence” is also one of the words for being stupid—it’s related to the word for “fools” in the last line. Trust in God can look stupid, but actually it’s the most sensible thing in the world. Trusting in yourself and following your hunches can seem sensible, but it may be stupid. Urging people to trust in a crucified Jew looks really stupid, but it’s the most sensible thing in the world, whereas the world’s wisdom is actually stupid (so Paul will note, nuancing Proverbs’ point).
The other reference to trust comes when it talks about the neighbor who is living trustingly with you; you’re not to make some plan against him. One definition of love is making the world safe for the other person, who can then know it’s possible to count on you to do so. So trust isn’t only key to our relationships with God but key to relationships with other people. My father was a trusting person, and my mother sometimes despaired at the risks he would take in connection with other people. I follow my father, whereas my wife is like my mother. The complementarity in both marriages is good; Proverbs has already given good reason for discernment about whom you trust. It would be possible for an unprincipled person to take advantage of a sucker like my father or me, and Proverbs urges people not to do so. Taking advantage of people’s trust undermines the possibility of trust. An implication is that deviousness and wisdom are incompatible. In the worlds of politics and business, parsimony with the truth if not downright lying may seem necessary if you’re to get on or to achieve ends you know are good. In the long run it’s a destructive view.
Proverbs can’t find enough spectacular ways to exalt Yahweh’s wisdom in the eyes of its audience. Wisdom is a tree of life, it says. The phrase recurs in other Middle Eastern works. In an Old Testament context, it’s a striking promise. You know how Adam and Eve could have gained eternal life if they had eaten the tree of life? Well, paying attention to wisdom can give you a really fulfilled and fulfilling life. Proverbs goes further. You know God created the world? How do you think he did so? He used his wisdom. Just look at the world and how amazing it is. It’s the kind of thing you can achieve if you pay attention to wisdom.
Goldingay, J. (2014). Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs for Everyone (pp. 17–19). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press; Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Passage Guide | Proverbs 3:5–6 › Cross References
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| The Lexham English Bible | |
| 1 Chronicles 28:9 | “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for Yahweh searches all hearts and understands every plan and all thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever. |
| Job 33:11 | he puts my feet in the block; he watches all my paths.’ |
| Psalm 4:5 | Offer correct sacrifices, and trust in Yahweh. |
| Psalm 5:8 | O Yahweh, lead me in your righteousness because of my enemies; make straight before me your way. |
| Psalm 25:2 | O my God, I trust you; let me not be put to shame. Do not let my enemies exult over me. |
| Psalm 37:3 | Trust Yahweh and do good. Abide in the land and feed on faithfulness. |
| Psalm 37:5 | Commit to Yahweh your way; Trust also on him and he will act. |
| Psalm 73:24 | You will guide me with your advice, and afterward you will take me into honor. |
| Proverbs 11:5 | The righteousness of the blameless will keep his ways straight, but the wicked will fall by his wickedness. |
| Proverbs 16:3 | Commit your work to Yahweh, and your plans will be established. |
| Proverbs 22:19 | In order for your trust to be in Yahweh, I have made them known to you today—even you. |
| Proverbs 23:4 | Do not tire in order to become rich; out of your understanding, may you desist. |
| Isaiah 30:11 | turn aside from the way, turn aside from the path, put an end to the holy one of Israel from our face.” |
| Isaiah 40:3 | A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God! |
| Isaiah 45:13 | I myself have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his paths smooth. He himself shall build my city, and he shall set my exiles free, not for price or a gift,” says Yahweh of hosts. |
| Jeremiah 9:23–24 | 23 Thus says Yahweh, “The wise man must not boast in his wisdom, and the warrior must not boast in his might, the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth. 24 But only in this must the one who boasts boast, that he has insight, and that he knows me, that I am Yahweh, showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight,” declares Yahweh. |
| Jeremiah 10:2 | Thus says Yahweh: “You must not learn the way of the nations, and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them. |
| Jeremiah 10:23 | I know, O Yahweh, that to the human is not his own way, nor to a person is the walking and the directing of his own step. |
| Jeremiah 42:3 | And let Yahweh your God inform us the way in which we should go and the thing that we should do.” |
| Sirach 5:2 | |
| Philippians 4:6 | Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. |
| James 1:5 | Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for it from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him. |
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