Wisdom 7:7
Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me:
Open Wisdom 7:7 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Propter hoc optavi, et datus est mihi sensus ; et invocavi, et venit in me spiritus sapientiæ :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- διὰ τοῦτο εὐξάμην, καὶ φρόνησις ἐδόθη μοι· ἐπεκαλεσάμην, καὶ ἦλθέν μοι πνεῦμα σοφίας.
Haydock's commentary
Wherefore, as I had no advantage over others naturally, I asked for the wisdom requisite to fill so important an office, 3 Kings ix. 10. (Calmet)
Solomon, whose sayings are here recorded, prayed for wisdom. (Worthington)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius, Pelagius’ Answer Examined
Indeed, in this very book which contains these statements, after laying down the position, “All men are governed by their own will, and every one is submitted to his own desire,” Pelagius goes on to adduce the testimony of Scripture, from which it is evident enough that no man ought to trust to himself for direction. For on this very subject the Wisdom of Solomon declares: “I myself also am a mortal man like unto all; and the offspring of him that was first made of the earth,”, with other similar words to the conclusion of the paragraph, where we read: “For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out therefrom: wherefore I prayed and understanding was given to me; I called, and the Spirit of Wisdom came into me.” Now is it not clearer than light itself, how that this man, on duly considering the wretchedness of human frailty, did not dare to commit himself to his own dire …
St Ambrose On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus, Book II. On the Belief in the Resurrection
31. And who said this but he who asked for and obtained wisdom, to know how the world was made, and the power of the elements, the course of the year, and the dispositions of stars, to be acquainted with the natures of living creatures, the furies of wild beasts, and the violence of winds, and to understand the thoughts of man! How, then, should mortal matters be hidden from him, from whom heavenly things were not hidden? He who penetrated the thoughts of the woman who was claiming the child of another, who by the inspiration of divine grace knew the natures of living creatures which he did not share; could he err or say what was untrue with regard to the circumstances of that nature, which he found in his own personal experience?