Bible Strands
Proverbs 9:3
She has sent out her maidservants; she calls out from the heights of the city.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The personified figure speaks to the simple and those lacking judgment immediately after preparing a feast and setting a table. She issues the invitation from a prominent public location in the city.
The words — The Hebrew תִקְרָא (tik.Ra') literally means "she calls out," paired with עַל־ גַּפֵּי מְרֹמֵי (al-ga.pei me.ro.mei), which translates to "on the elevations of the heights." This phrasing describes a loud, public proclamation from an elevated position.
The thread — The text describes a public calling motif that runs in Proverbs 8:1, where Wisdom raises her voice, and in Proverbs 9:14, where a similar figure sits at a door on the city heights. The banquet invitation pattern also parallels Matthew 22:3, where servants are sent to call the invited guests.
Why it lands — The text demands an immediate response to a publicly offered invitation before the opportunity passes. It requires the reader to recognize that the call is accessible but requires deliberate attention and physical movement toward it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,
Cross-references
- Proverbs 9:14 She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the heights of the city,
- Proverbs 8:1 Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice?
- Matthew 22:3 He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come.
- Psalms 68:11 The Lord gives the command; a great company of women proclaim it:
- Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;
- Matthew 22:9 Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’
- Luke 11:49 Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’
- Luke 14:17 When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
- Luke 14:21 The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
- John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.