Proverbs 8:3

Pro 8:3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

Ver. 3. At the entry of the city.] Heb., At the mouth; for as words go out of the mouth, so do men out of the city; only men go and come at their pleasure. Sed volat emissum semel irrevocabile verbum, {a} - A word once uttered cannot be recalled.

At the coming in at the doors.] Everywhere Christ offereth himself; hence ariseth this phrase, "My salvation is gone forth"; but to little purpose, through men’s singular perverseness. Indeed if the Lord would set up a pulpit at the ale house door, they would hear more often; but since he doth not, they will run to hell as fast as they can; and if God cannot catch them, they care not, they will not return.

{a} Rod. Bain.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8:3 In ancient Near Eastern cities, the city gates had built-in chambers for conducting legal proceedings and business transactions. It was an appropriate place for Wisdom to make her appeal to the most people.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Where the people did most resort, and which was the place of justice.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 3. She crieth at the gates] This might be well applied to the preaching of Jesus Christ and his apostles, and their faithful successors in the Christian ministry. He went to the temple, and proclaimed the righteousness of the Most High: he did the same in the synagogues, on the mountains, by the sea-side, in the villages, in the streets of the cities, and in private houses. His disciples followed his track: in the same way, and in the same spirit, they proclaimed the unsearchable riches of Christ. God's wisdom in the hearts of his true ministers directs them to go and to seek sinners. There are, it is true, temples, synagogues, churches, chapels, c. but hundreds of thousands never frequent them, and therefore do not hear the voice of truth: wisdom, therefore, must go to them, if she wishes them to receive her instructions. Hence the zealous ministers of Christ go still to the highways and hedges, to the mountains and plains, to the ships and the cottages, to persuade sinners to turn from the error of their ways, and accept that redemption which was procured by the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. she crieth] The R.V. again preserves the order of the Heb., and puts the words she crieth aloud at the end of the verse.

the gates] See Pro_1:21, note.

Pro_8:4-5. The persons whom she addresses.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

She crieth at the gates,.... Of the temple, or of the city, where the courts of judicature were, and persons met on civil accounts; and where people were continually passing and repassing;

at the entry of the city; meeting those that came out of the country to the city upon trade and business;

at the coming in at the doors; of the temple, or city, or private houses; all these expressions denote the publicness of the Gospel ministry, both by Christ himself, who spake openly to the world, always taught in the synagogues and temple, and in secret said nothing; and who ordered his disciples to preach what they heard and received from him upon the house tops, Joh 18:20; so did the Apostle Paul, Act 20:20.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Doors. Amid disputants, whose eagerness ought to convince us of the preference due to wisdom over all terrestrial concerns, ver. 10.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

At the gates; the places of judgment, and of the confluence of people. At the entry of the city, to invite passengers at their first coming, and to conduct them to her house.

At the coming in at the doors, to wit, of her house, as the harlot stood at her door to invite lovers:

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The expressions in the text indicate the position which she takes and its capabilities. At the hand of the gates. (1Sa_19:3) She posts herself at the side of the city gates, under the archway pierced in the wall, where she is sure of an audience. At the mouth of the city, inside the gate, where people pass on their way to the country. At the coming in at the doors, by which persons enter the town. Thus she catches all comers, those who are entering, as well as those who are leaving the city. Here standing, as in the Agora or Forum, she crieth; she calls aloud, saying what follows (vers. 4-36). It is a fine picture of the comprehensiveness of the gospel, which is meant for high and low, prince and peasant; which is proclaimed everywhere, in the courts of kings, in the lanes of the country, in the hovels of the city; which sets forth the infinite love of God, who is not willing that any should perish, but would have all men come to the knowledge of the truth. (2Pe_3:9) Septuagint, "By the gates of the mighty she sits, in the entrances she sings aloud (umneitai )."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gates - The places of judgment, and of the confluence of people. The entry - To invite passengers at their first coming and to conduct them to her house. The doors - Of her house.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

at the entrance of the roof Heb. קרת, the ceiling above the gate, where people sit.

she cries Heb. תרנה, she cries, and what does she say? “To you, O men, I call.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.