“I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence.” The Hebrew word translated as “prudence” is ‘ormah (#06195 עָרְמָה), a feminine noun, and it is one of the female attendants to wisdom (see commentary on Prov. 1:20 about the figure of speech personification). For more on what “prudence” is, see commentary on Proverbs 1:4.

“I find.” In this verse Wisdom herself models for us how wise people behave. She knows or learns what she needs and goes and finds it. Wisdom lives together with prudence, and finds knowledge and discretion. Actually, in this verse, “prudence,” “knowledge” and “discretion” are all personifications and could have all been capitalized, but we felt that the emphasis in Proverbs was on Wisdom, and only capitalized her. But the verse is teaching us that Wisdom keeps her friend Prudence close at hand by living with her, and then goes and seeks out and finds Knowledge and Discretion so that she can have a multitude of good counselors (Prov. 11:14; 24:6). Wise people follow Wisdom’s example. Lots of people suffer because they do not properly prioritize their lives and take the time to seek out and find the knowledge they need to succeed in whatever endeavor they are involved in and, indeed, succeed in life.