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Read the Bible

King James Version

Proverbs 21:22

A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - War;   Wisdom;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Motives;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Fortification and Siegecraft;   Ladder;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Confidence;   Siege;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A wise person went up against a city of warriorsand brought down its secure fortress.
Hebrew Names Version
A wise man scales the city of the mighty, And brings down the strength of its confidence.
English Standard Version
A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
New American Standard Bible
A wise person scales the city of the mighty And brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
New Century Version
A wise person can defeat a city full of warriors and tear down the defenses they trust in.
Amplified Bible
A wise man scales the city [walls] of the mighty And brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
World English Bible
A wise man scales the city of the mighty, And brings down the strength of its confidence.
Geneva Bible (1587)
A wise man goeth vp into the citie of the mightie, and casteth downe the strength of the confidence thereof.
Legacy Standard Bible
A wise man goes up to the city of the mightyAnd brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
Berean Standard Bible
A wise man scales the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.
Contemporary English Version
One wise person can defeat a city full of soldiers and capture their fortress.
Complete Jewish Bible
A wise man can go up into a city of warriors and undermine the strength in which it trusts.
Darby Translation
A wise [man] scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.
Easy-to-Read Version
A wise person can defeat a city full of warriors and tear down the defenses they trust in.
George Lamsa Translation
A wise man scales the defenses of the city of mighty men and conquers the stronghold in which they trusted.
Good News Translation
A shrewd general can take a city defended by strong men, and destroy the walls they relied on.
Lexham English Bible
To a city of warriors, the wise ascends, and he will bring down the stronghold—its object of trust.
Literal Translation
A wise one ascends the city of the mighty and topples the strength in which it trusts.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A wyse man wynneth the cite of the mightie, and as for the strength yt they trust in, he bryngeth it downe.
American Standard Version
A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, And bringeth down the strength of the confidence thereof.
Bible in Basic English
A wise man goes up into the town of the strong ones, and overcomes its strength in which they put their faith.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and bringeth down the stronghold wherein it trusteth.
King James Version (1611)
A wise man scaleth the citie of the mightie, and casteth downe the strength of the confidence thereof.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A wyse man skaleth the citie of the mightie, & ouerthroweth the strength wherein they trusted.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A wise man assaults strong cities, and demolishes the fortress in which the ungodly trusted.
English Revised Version
A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and bringeth down the strength of the confidence thereof.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A wijs man stiede `in to the citee of stronge men, and distriede the strengthe of trist therof.
Update Bible Version
A wise man scales the city of the mighty, And brings down the strength of the confidence thereof.
Webster's Bible Translation
A wise [man] scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of its confidence.
New English Translation
The wise person can scale the city of the mighty and bring down the stronghold in which they trust.
New King James Version
A wise man scales the city of the mighty, And brings down the trusted stronghold.
New Living Translation
The wise conquer the city of the strong and level the fortress in which they trust.
New Life Bible
A wise man goes over the city walls of the powerful, and brings down the strong-place in which they trust.
New Revised Standard
One wise person went up against a city of warriors and brought down the stronghold in which they trusted.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A city of heroes, doth a wise man scale, and bringeth down the strength of its confidence.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The wise man hath scaled the city of the strong, and hath cast down the strength of the confidence thereof.
Revised Standard Version
A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
Young's Literal Translation
A city of the mighty hath the wise gone up, And bringeth down the strength of its confidence.
THE MESSAGE
One sage entered a whole city of armed soldiers— their trusted defenses fell to pieces!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A wise man scales the city of the mighty And brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

Contextual Overview

22 A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

2 Samuel 20:16-22, Ecclesiastes 7:19, Ecclesiastes 9:13-18

Reciprocal: Proverbs 24:5 - A wise Ecclesiastes 9:16 - Wisdom Daniel 2:23 - who hast

Cross-References

Genesis 20:2
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Genesis 20:17
So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
Genesis 21:2
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Genesis 21:3
And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
Genesis 26:26
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
Genesis 26:28
And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
Genesis 28:15
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
Genesis 30:27
And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.
Joshua 3:7
And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
2 Chronicles 1:1
And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A wise [man] scaleth the city of the mighty,.... Which makes good what is elsewhere said, that "wisdom is better than strength", Ecclesiastes 9:16; and sometimes more is done by prudence and wisdom, by art and cunning, by schemes and stratagems, than by power and force; especially in military affairs, and particularly in besieging and taking fortified cities; when one wise man, by his wisdom, may so order and manage things, as to be able, with a few under his command, to mount the walls of a city and take it, though defended by a mighty garrison in it. This may be applied to, our Lord Jesus Christ entering into the city of a man's heart, possessed by the strong man armed; overcoming him, taking from him his armour, and dividing his spoil,

Luke 11:21; compare with this Ecclesiastes 9:14;

and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof; the strong walls, bulwarks, and such fortifications, in which the mighty in the city placed their confidence: and the like does Christ, when he enters into the heart of a sinner by his word and spirit; he destroys all its former strong confidences, and brings it into subjection to himself,

2 Corinthians 10:4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Even in war, counsel does more than brute strength. So of the warfare which is carried on in the inner battlefield of the soul. There also wisdom is mighty to the “pulling down of strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4, where Paul uses the very words of the Septuagint Version of this passage), and the wise man scales and keeps the city which the strong man armed has seized and made his own.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 21:22. A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty — Wisdom is in many respects preferable to strength, even in the case of defence. See what skill does in the fortification and reduction of strong places.


 
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