Proverbs 4:7

Wisdom is supreme ¹  – so ²  acquire wisdom, and whatever you acquire, ³  acquire understanding! ⁴ 

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

"The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.

Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do! And whatever else you do, get good judgment.

Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding!

The first sign of wisdom is to get wisdom; go, give all you have to get true knowledge.

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight.

Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

Wisdom is supreme ¹  – so ²  acquire wisdom, and whatever you acquire, ³  acquire understanding! ⁴ 

¹ tn The absolute and construct state of רֵאשִׁית (re’shit) are identical (BDB 912 s.v.). Some treat רֵאשִׁית חָכְמָה (re’shit khokhmah) as a genitive-construct phrase: “the beginning of wisdom” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV). Others take רֵאשִׁית as an absolute functioning as predicate and חָכְמָה as the subject: “wisdom is the first/chief thing” (cf. KJV, ASV). The context here suggests the predicate.

² tn The term “so” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style.

³ tn The noun קִנְיָן (qinyan) means “thing got or acquired; acquisition” (BDB 889 s.v.). With the preposition that denotes price, it means “with (or at the price of) all that you have acquired.” The point is that no price is too high for wisdom – give everything for it (K&D 16:108).

⁴ tc The verse is not in the LXX; some textual critics delete the verse as an impossible gloss that interrupts vv. 6 and 8 (e.g., C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 88).