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Proverbs 3:18

"She is a tree of life"

Wisdom "is a tree of life (ets chayyim) to them that lay hold upon her." The phrase recalls the tree in Eden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22–24). The library's Greek adds a clause: she is a secure support to those who lean on her "as on the Lord."

Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
  3. Genesis 2:9 (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

    The proverb as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

  2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Lignum vitæ est his qui apprehenderint eam, et qui tenuerit eam beatus.

    Latin position: Proverbs 3:18. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398), so the Vulgate is an indirect witness to a Hebrew text, with Jerome's interpretation.

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    עֵץ־חַיִּ֣ים הִ֭יא לַמַּחֲזִיקִ֣ים בָּ֑הּ וְֽתֹמְכֶ֥יהָ מְאֻשָּֽׁר׃

    A tree of life is she to those who grasp her, and those who hold her fast are called happy

    Hebrew position: Proverbs 3:18.

  4. AD 1008

    Genesis 2:9 (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    וַיַּצְמַ֞ח יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כָּל־עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְמַרְאֶ֖ה וְט֣וֹב לְמַאֲכָ֑ל וְעֵ֤ץ הַֽחַיִּים֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַגָּ֔ן וְעֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע׃

    …and the tree of life in the midst of the garden

    The tree of life in Eden.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

  6. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Elle est l’arbre de vie pour ceux qui l’embrassent; elle est un sûr appui pour ceux qui s’attachent à elle, comme au Seigneur.

    Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 3:18. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published yet; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.

What changed, and why

Proverbs uses "tree of life" four times (3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4), always for something life-giving within this world. The image of Eden's lost tree, made available again through wisdom, is suggestive; whether Proverbs deliberately alludes to Genesis or both draw on an older Near Eastern image of a sacred tree is debated.

In Jewish practice the verse is sung when the Torah scroll is returned to the ark ("Ets chayyim hi lammachaziqim bah"), and the wooden rollers of a Torah scroll are called atsei chayyim, "trees of life": a later identification of Wisdom with Torah (compare Sirach 24:23).

The Greek addition "as on the Lord" (Giguet "comme au Seigneur") makes trust in wisdom parallel to trust in God; it has no Hebrew counterpart (C check: Rahlfs).

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek adds 'as on the Lord' in 3:18.
  • Plausible, not confirmedProverbs 3:18 alludes to the tree of life in Genesis.
  • Independently documentedJewish liturgy sings 3:18 when the Torah is returned to the ark.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Proverbs 3: Trust in the LORD with All Thine Heart →Proverbs 3 joins devotion and daily life. The son is to keep teaching and kindness close (vv. 1–4), trust the LORD rather than his own cleverness (vv. 5–8), honour God with firstfruits (vv. 9–10) and accept God's discipline as a father's love (vv. 11–12). Wisdom is worth more than silver and gold; she is "a tree of life" (vv. 13–18), and by wisdom God founded the earth (vv. 19–20). The chapter ends with practical neighbourliness: do not withhold good, do not say "come back tomorrow," do not plot against a neighbour or envy the violent (vv. 21–35).