#his death? fine' he was in Ethiopia without his knowledge

[ikeep-forgetting-mypass]

If the relationship Jason had with the bats before was rocky, then dead god is it rockier than an avalanche now.

The other bat kids are furious with Bruce; Dick, Barbara and Stephanie barely being restrained from strangling the man to death. Barbara pulls out completely, Bruce saving the man who paralyzed her and killed Jason and allowing Tim to be shot? Yeah, no tech support for him anytime soon.

Dick has had enough. You thought their arguments during Dicks rebellion were bad, they have nothing on the blood curdling screaming matches that followed the minute they had returned to the Cave. Steph goes on the attack the minute she sees the man in the bat suit, with only Cass being able to stop her.

Damian is still reeling from what Danny said, wondering if it would be different if he was in Tim's place? Would his father save him, or the clown? And if he would save him, then why didn't he save Timothy?

ALFRED nearly quits, dead stop. That's how bad it is.

The YJ? Well, after a lot of grovelling and pinkie swears, fully integrate themselves on Danny's side, Kon being by far the most apologetic due to his own past. Kor'i is also joining them the second she hears about it, no questions needed. She and Jazz look similar, (fiery red hair, technically being aliens and having been in a relationship with a Bat Boy (Jason and Dick)) and get along very well.

JLA Dark? They're all having a mental breakdown. Both Zatara's (she AND her father) and Shazam nearly fainted, Dr. Fate nearly had an out of character conniption and Constantine immediately cut any and all ties to the JLA, and he and Deadman rushed in favor of helping destroy the GIW. Deadman is particularly hurt and offended, since hes. Well it's in his name.

Safe to say, this might cause a war to break out. A civil war against the heroes, and an all out war between the GIW-JL and Danny's faction/the Ghosts.

The way that I’m brainrotting over a DCxDP crossover with a Danny who’s a vengeful villain rn

Like, let’s just say that the GiW finally get into contact with the JL. They need help neutralizing a threat, you see, and they’re on their last limb trying to keep civilians safe.

They have video evidence! They have studies to back their claims! The JL have to help them!

Unfortunately, the JL believe them. They join a fight against Danny, and defeat him due to being far more experienced than he is. Danny is locked away and experimented on by the GiW.

That would CHANGE a person. Your heroes turning against you and seeing you as a monster, being experimented on for who knows how long, not knowing if your friends and family are safe.

Danny gets out due to a simple mistake on the GiW’s part; having Blüdhaven as part of their transport route.

Of course the trucks were attacked, they’re government property!

So now, whoever decided to raid the government transport trucks (the Penguin or something) has a ton of experimental weapons with no idea how they work, and a heavily traumatized teenager.

Danny knows how they work. Danny can be useful! They won’t throw him out if he’s useful! And so, now Danny is working for the Penguin, altering the ectoplasm weapons to make them work on humans.

It’s a good deal for both parties. Danny gets to neurotically imprint on the Penguin like a small baby animal, and the Penguin gets a brilliant mind who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

But eventually, Danny finds out what happened to his family in his absence.

Jazz is in Arkham. Not as a psychologist, but as a “patient.” Apparently, she snapped and completely destroyed the house, leveled a few blocks of Amity Park, and conducted organized attacks on government bases (mostly GiW) for months.

Sam and Tucker helped her, eventually splitting once Jazz was captured. Sam travels to areas of extreme pollution, completely overgrowing them with her plant powers. Currently she’s in the Amazon rainforest, engaging in an ongoing feud with logging companies. Sam is winning.

Tucker faked his death, and Danny has no idea where he is. He only knows that the death wasn’t real because of a code that the three of them made together, just in case.

Ellie’s trapped in the Infinite Realms. Danny had a failsafe in place so that if she was ever cornered by the GiW, she would be sent to her haunt in the GZ. However, with the portal destroyed, she can’t come back. Danny just hopes she’s okay.

His parents are now top GiW scientists. They’re traveling the country giving speeches. They’re working on a battery powered by ectoplasm, but apparently started “having difficulties” around the same time that Danny escaped.

None of it is fair. None of it is right.

The Justice League destroyed his life, the lives of his friends, and they’re doing as good as ever. The GiW is respected, and his parents are happily working away for them.

Danny takes up some of his more experimental weapons and breaks Jazz out of Arkham. She’s a little different now, colder and more quiet, but she still loves him all the same. It’s an unimaginable comfort to him to see his sister again.

He can’t use his powers anymore. He’s so used to associating them with pain that even transforming into his ghost form is enough to take him down for hours.

However, he understands ectoplasm more than anyone else in the world. He knows how to use it in virtually everything; how it can become a weapon, how it can be used as a supplemental ingredient in poisons and nerve agents, how it can twist and distort the mind if applied correctly.

He doesn’t care what happens to him. He’s going to take down the GiW, and destroy the lives of the JL members who helped lock him away, just as they did to him.

No matter the cost.

[historic-old-guard-lover]

How many languages and which of them would the cast speak if we’re going to be completely historically accurate ?

This a great question that I can’t quite answer, but I spent six hours researching to give it a shot. I think that there’s a broad range of plausible languages and you’ve got leeway to choose how many. The first part is that different people have different affinities for languages. Some people can speak ten different languages fluently (or near-fluency), while others will struggle juggling three different ones in their brains. The range in the languages can affect this, too: it’s easy to mess up between similar languages. I personally have trouble speaking Spanish because in the middle of the sentence, I’ll drop a French word without even realizing it. The same thing doesn’t happen to me in other languages like German, though. By the same token as I’ve discussed before, similar languages are easier to learn. Going from English to Russian with the Cyrillic alphabet? More difficult than English to French, which makes up about a third of modern English. These are languages that are still in the same family (Proto-Indo-European, PIE), though, so it holds nothing to the difficulty of going from English to a language like Mandarin.

I’m breaking this answer into two parts: 1) how many?; 2) which ones? and I’m going to get carried away because I’m me so it’s below the break to spare you if this comes across your dash and you’re not a nerd...

PART 1: What’s a realistic number for them to speak?

I think that each member of the old guard probably has a certain number of languages which they’re comfortable with, a few more that they can understand/get by in, and a few that they may only know phrases from. The number of each isn’t the same for everyone. The average human being is able to speak ~1.5 languages. The most talented polyglots can speak upwards of 50 languages, maybe one guy even spoke 65 (mostly I want to mention he loved translating the phrase “kiss my ass”). This hyperpolyglot, Kreb aka “Kiss My Ass” Stan, had his brain dissected after his death and it showed a lot of “abnormalities”. That leads neuroscientists and me to believe that being able to study and learn 65 languages is either 1) a major skill that rewired his brain because he was flexing it so much; or 2) very abnormal and facilitated by his brain differences. Since their powers don’t make them stop being limited by the human brain (they can forget), I would say that it is unlikely that one of them is fluent/near fluent/comfortable in more than ~65 languages.

Getting past twelve languages is considered a feat, so I think only Andy, Quynh, Nicky, and Joe could be anywhere near the upper-bounds of languages. Remember, these hyperpolyglots spend their entire lives studying languages and often need refreshers. The members of the Old Guard don’t have the luxury of reading grammar books all day, and they also have to remember a bunch of combat training. You can argue that a lot of fighting is “muscle memory” aka located in the cerebellum and nowhere near language processing areas, but there’s still things like math, navigation, etc. that they need to remember. I doubt they have a list of their safe houses just lying around. The older members can speak more languages by virtue of being around longer and having that time to learn, but if we’re being realistic they should probably speak no more than ~45-55 languages comfortably. This doesn’t mean that they only *know* that many, but the other languages would be more like bad high school Spanish in America than able to wax poetic. Aside: that Joe is able to be poetic in what is AT LEAST his fourth or so language is very impressive and we should talk about that more.

How Many Each Member is Maximally Proficient In/Knowledgeable Of at the end of the film/Opening Fire comics run:

Lykon (comics): proficient in ~15, knowledgeable of ~30*

Lykon (movies): proficient in ~45, knowledgeable of ~80*

Andy: proficient in ~50, knowledgeable of ~100**

Quynh | Noriko: proficient in ~51, knowledgeable of ~90**

Joe: proficient in ~30, knowledgeable of ~80

Nicky: proficient in ~30, knowledgeable of ~80

Booker: proficient in ~10, knowledgeable of ~30

Nile: proficient in ~2 (maybe 3), knowledgeable of ~5

*In the comics, he is younger than Andy and Quynh and I assume he dies young. In the movie, it is strongly implied that he was the oldest. The reason why his numbers are not larger, however, is because at some point there were fewer languages as humanity had not dispersed as much as it eventually did. He’s also long before written language which facilitates learning for most people. RIP Lykon.

**I’m not saying that Quynh is smarter than Andy, just that she comes after written language and it should be slightly easier for her to pick things up. I’m giving Andy access to more languages, however, because PIE alone covers Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. More on this later.

PART 2: Which languages would each of them speak?

I’ve covered this question a little in a previous post that was broadly about proto-indo-european/Andy-centric (check it out if you want), but I’ll give a broader survey of each character here.

A Quick Aside on Lykon: We don’t know enough about this character, and the fact that the comics and movie diverge so sharply does not help at all. I’m going to headcannon that he was from Eastern Africa, where most archaeologists agree that modern humans first appeared in the Horn of Africa aka modern Ethiopia and Somolia and neighbors, and predates Andy by ~3,000 years. For future purposes below and assuming a birth date for Andy in the range ~5,000BCE - 4,000BCE, this puts his birth at around ~8,000BCE - 7,000BCE. This is wild speculation, however. Maybe the early immortals should be spaced by warfare types (Stone Age, Bronze, Iron, Steel?) or maybe they pop up once a cultural region reaches a certain historic point or maybe they just sorta pop up and then live for six or seven thousands years. I’m working off the last assumption because it’s the simplest. The only thing I’m certain of is that Greg Rucka probably didn’t sit down and think this pattern through. If I’m wrong, oh well. I’m mad at him for all his historical inaccuracies. With dating from ~8,000BCE - 7,000BCE, I’m having trouble finding a name for the cultures that scientists/historians know were living there at the time. It’s probably because the region has been continually occupied since the first humans, which one can safely assume makes abandoned and undisturbed sites hard to fine.

A Quick Aside on Quynh | Noriko: I like the film better, so I’ll be working with Quynh. If there’s enough interest, I can add on Japanese for Noriko. I’m going to date Quynh to be ~1,500 years after Andy (maybe this should be the new date system, before Andy “BA” and after Andy “AA”). This puts her in the time range of ~3,500BCE - 2,500BCE which could place her in either the Đa Bút neolithic culture of modern-day Vietnam or the Phùng Nguyên bronze age culture of modern-day Vietnam. Those names are archaeological in nature, based on the location where sites have been found and dated to those ranges.

Other Origins: Because we have diverging cannons, I’m going to just state the backgrounds that I’ve assigned. Joe is from 1066CE with a background in the Arab-controlled Maghreb (more specifically, modern-day Tunisia and Northern Algeria). Nicky is from 1069CE with a background from the Italian maritime republic and city-state of Genoa. Booker is from 1770 southern France. Nile is from 1994 Chicago in the United States. Andy is from ~5,000BCE - 4,000BCE in the Caucasus (modern-day Georgia and Azerbaijan) or the South Western Eurasian Steppes, probably the Shulaveri-Shomu culture assuming that location.

The first language everyone learned, their “mother tongue” or “native language” is one that they definitely speak. It’s the language that they think in and would be hard-pressed to lose. This even includes now-dead languages, because, again, it’s the one that they learned to think with. Of course, it is possible to lose a language when you have no one to speak it with if you wanted to do something tragic, but I think that these things are too deeply ingrained for it it to happen by accident.

What Each One’s First Language Would Be:

Nile: American English, possibly African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) at home

Booker: Provençal/Occitan, possibly “standard French” (school and other places outside the home)

Nicky: Genoese Ligurian/Zeneize

Joe: Tunisian Derja/Tunisian Arabic/Tunisian, and possibly one of the dialects of the native Zenati language group based on where more precisely you place him

Quynh: Proto-Viet–Muong (which isn’t well documented because it’s so old)

Andy: Proto-Indo-European (PIE), but if you’re curious the Classical Scythian Language for which she is probably named is only off by a factor of 10 (4000 vs 400 BCE) *cue distressed sighing*

Lykon: Proto-Cushitic (also suffering a lack of documentation from being old as heck)

Other than their first languages, what else they learn depends on where they go. People learned languages back then for the same reasons that they do today: to communicate (and to read, after the invention of writing). 

Additional Confirmed or Likely Cannon Languages:

Nile: Spanish because of the American school system for sure. French is listed on the IG account, but she probably speaks only Spanish or French to a degree of fluency, definitely one better than the other. Very Basic Pashto, which we see her use some obviously-memorized phrases with in the film.

Booker: The IG promo things asserts that he knows (modern, standard) Italian and Greek. Why not? He also probably knows Spanish depending on where more specifically in southern France he is from. He’s probably also picked up on at least Very Basic Arabic from Joe and Nicky, but actually learning the language would take commitment from him. He also clearly speaks English.

Nicky: Other Italian dialects, and it would be fairly easy for him to have picked up modern Italian. He definitely reads Latin. If he was from a wealthy family, he probably also speaks Greek. If he was from a trading family, he probably speaks the trading pidgin of Sabir. The IG account confirms Arabic (vague, but okay I’ll be generous and say modern standard Arabic) and Romanche (they meant to write Romansh). I think Romansh is poorly chosen to characterize him in Northern Italy, but I’m feeling generous. He also clearly speaks English.

Joe: He definitely speaks standard Arabic to have been able to communicate with other Arabic-speakers in Jerusalem.  Genoese Ligurian/Zeneize because of the love of his life, which also means he probably picked up modern Italian at some point. The IG account confirms Farsi (they call it “Persian” *cue screaming*), which works if he was a merchant who traveled far to eastward on the Silk Road...and if you go with the comic cannon makes more sense. I’m going to say that he speaks the Mediterranean trading pidgin Sabir because of his location in Tunisia. If he was from a wealthy merchant family and could afford schooling, he probably learned Greek and maybe also Latin. There’s a good chance that he knows conversational-levels of other native Zenati languages thanks to colonialism discouraging their usage. He also clearly speaks English.

Quynh: We don’t actually know if she speaks English, but it’s safe to assume she does speak at least some of it. She’s probably learned Vietnamese and Mường because of her mastery of their proto-language. Because I see her returning to modern-day Vietnam to fight the Chinese colonization, I think that she might know Cantonese or Mandarin. Based on her travels with Andy, I’d like to propose Greek, Latin, and Mongolian. I’m sure that Andy and her share a language, but who knows which one they were each speaking when they met!

Andy: The IG account says “all,” but I’ve discussed this elsewhere (*major eye rolling*). She almost certainly picked up Scythian and Greek based on her chosen name. Latin isn’t as likely as you’d think, but is possible. I’d like to think that she’s also partial to learning Russian (or some earlier form of the language), Mongolian, and Armenian. Based on her travels with Quynh, I imagine that she speaks Cantonese or Mandarin and Vietnamese or Mu’o’ng. There is some mystery language shared with Quynh, too. She also clearly speaks English.

Lykon: I really don’t know enough about him to hazard any guesses. He should share at least one language in common with Andy and Quynh. If his date of death is ~2,000- 1,000 BCE like I’m supposing, there’s a good chance that he only speaks one or two currently-named languages. Sorry, OP.

[vulpesvulpex-blog]

extremely detailed character sheet beneath cut

BASICS

FULL NAME:

Official name (current): Vixen Carlos

Past official names: Vixen, Vixen Österberg, Todd Österberg, Ravona (verse specific)

MEANING:

Vixen, Todd, Ravona- literally all mean Fox ; Österberg- eastern hill ; Carlos- manly... ironic, names herself after the transgender composer Wendy Carlos, also on my side in reference to Bun E Carlos from Cheap Trick

NICKNAME: Vix, Bunny

MEANING: diminutive; Bunny is in reference to her appearance mostly, and playboy bunnies 

AGE APPEARANCE: threads work anywhere from 18-68, older than age when she’s younger, younger when she’s older

BIRTHDAY: Summer solstice, unspecific, year varies per thread

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Cancer cusp

SPECIES: Human in most verses; Modified homo Sapiens; homo Sapiens mutant

GENDER: female

ALLERGIES: nothing major, dust

SEXUAL PREFERENCE: bisexual, predominantly with a preference for women, more so over time. identifies as lesbian. somewhat kinky, but repressed, conflicted

THEME SONG(S): have a gander in the tag- ‘midnight radio’ (music) 

APPEARANCE

HAIR COLOR: naturally- dark brown, typically- dyed multiple colors 

HAIR STYLE AND LENGTH: shoulder length or longer, never short. worn loose usually, periodically in a ponytail, wavy, fine. relatively unstyled or untreated beyond dying

EYES COLOR: Steely blue, pale, pretty uniform EYESIGHT: Average but weakens with age, more farsighted than nearsighted

HEIGHT: 6′1

WEIGHT: 120-160 pounds, muscular but struggles with anorexia

OUTFIT/CLOTHING STYLE: ranging from high femme to business butch, follower of glam, always in heels, tight usually form fitting clothes, rarely wears skirts

ABNORMALITIES(TAIL): depends on what you’d call abnormal, transgender

DISTINGUISHING MARKS(SCARS,MOLES): Scars verse-dependent, mostly accidents, fights, self harm, nothing major, a few surgical scars from breast implants (verse dependent) has not had bottom surgery and is reluctant to despite distractingly prominent features 

SELF CARE(MAKE UP): Rarely seen without makeup, eyeliner, some mascara, lipgloss or lipstick, foundation blush etc, tries to minimize that forehead and chin

FIRST IMPRESSION ON PEOPLE: Flirty, guarded, indecisive, attempting confidence

SKIN COLOR: Very fair, freckled, thick veins show up easily

BODY TYPE/BUILD: Tall, slim build, feminine but athletic: small toned waist, muscular ass, lean legs, flat/prominent chest (verse dependent), somewhat of an narrow hourglass

DEFAULT EXPRESSION: bored, not quite resting bitchface, but almost sad

POSTURE: Will correct frequently, pushing chest out and standing straighter. Tends to try and make herself smaller subconsciously, slouching.

PIERCINGS: verse dependent, nothing more risque than the ears

DESCRIBE THEIR VOICE: singsongy, relatively deep, soft

RELATIONSHIPS

SIBLINGS: doesn’t mention them, verse dependent 

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: distant, detached 

OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS: closest with grandmother, but no longer. rarely speaks with parents. 

PAST LOVER(S): verse dependent, likely no one notable

CURRENT LOVER: verse dependent, a bit repressed

REACTION TO MEETING SOMEONE NEW: Somewhat standoffish but usually polite, to the point, concerned with appearances

ABILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS: Can do fine but rather work alone and do everything or someone else do all the work

HOW SOCIABLE(LONER,ETC): Superficially social, most of the time rather introverted but turns up the charm to 11 when feeling like it/wants something

FRIENDS: Doesn’t make friends easily, verse dependent, largely coworkers but not closely

PETS: Not usually financially/socially stable enough for pets. likes cats, rats, birds, rodents, nothing too big or noisy

PARENTAL TYPE(PROTECTIVE,ETC): Anxious, unwilling. Careful but somewhat neglectful, not someone who intended to be a parent. Somewhat strict.

FAVORITE PEOPLE: Smart people who might be smart asses but aren’t know it alls, someone with a sense of humor who doesn’t think they’re the funniest person in the world

LEAST FAVORITE PEOPLE: remove the buts and replace them with ands. people with no respect or sense of boundaries 

PERSONALITY

..WHEN YOU FIRST MEET THEM: Kind of blunt and weird, quiet, awkward. Very... tall. Girlish, not too tactful. 

..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY LIKE YOU): Nicer, quite intelligent, an eager learner, open minded but stubborn, playful and energetic, loves jokes and clever references, generous. 

..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY DISLIKE YOU): Vixen, if you’re lucky, pays you no mind, will not talk to you, and generally ignores and avoids you, too busy to be bothered by anything you do. If you’re a real asshole then you get the ruder more aggressive side who will let people know she doesn’t like you and why. Rather self centered and impatient. 

FAVORITE COLOR: pink, orange, warm colors

FAVORITE FOOD: gelato

FAVORITE ANIMAL: rabbits

FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: organ, analog synths

FAVORITE ELEMENT: hydrogen

LEAST FAVORITE COLOR: grey

LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: not big on seafood 

LEAST FAVORITE ANIMAL: centipedes

LEAST FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: ukelele

LEAST FAVORITE ELEMENT: surprise 

HOBBIES: music, continued education, gardening (usually indoors), bodybuilding, fashion, museums, misc

USUAL MOOD: observational, snippy/sarcastic 

DRINK/SMOKE/DRUGS: debatable, verse dependent. in moderation in most verses, avoids hard drugs but may abuse prescription medication. not big on cigarettes. 

HOW SERIOUS ARE THEY: serious in her work, but a little more lighthearted on a friendly basis. 

CLASS IN AN RPG: Sorcerer 

BELIEVE IN GHOSTS: No, adamantly 

(IN)DEPENDENT: Pretty independent but privately needy

SOFT SPOT/VULNERABILITY: Being seen as ugly, unwomanly, inferior, fake, a poser, a pervert, undesirable

OPINION ON SWEARING: Swears to the point of issue 

DAREDEVIL VS CAUTIOUS: thinks she’s/wants to be a daredevil, probably more cautious 

MUSIC TYPE: Art rock, electronic music, music concrete, disco, would probably listen to vaporwave 

MOVIE TYPE: Artfilms, yes, seriously. Very 80s young adult crap. Documentaries that are just left on all day. Hates most action films, romance, and family films. 

BOOK TYPE: Nonfiction and pop culture/fashion magazines 

GAME TYPE: Strategy, rpg adventure

COMFORTABLE TEMPERATURE: Indecisive, lukewarm

SLEEPING PATTERN: Poor. Stays up too late, sleeps too little, will take mid day naps

CLEANLINESS/NEATNESS: Vixen is kinda a slob

DESIRED PET: a leopard or something ridiculous like that

HOW DO THEY PASS TIME: More work, needs to be occupied at all times, that or junk, work out, window shop, sleep, want to do things and not do them

BIGGEST SECRET: That she’s trans but thinks everyone already knows. or Verse dependent nastiness, not always a ‘good’ person

HERO/WHO THEY LOOK UP TO: verse dependent, famous scientists/humanitarians 

WHAT ANIMAL WOULD THEY BE: Fox

FEARS: Rejection, being alone, failure, men

COMFORTS: reading, coding, listening to music, exercise, animals, gardening, garbage tv, shopping, swimming

HOW DO THEY ACT WHEN THEY ARE…

SAD: distant, quiet, disinterested, tired

HAPPY: Excitable, playful, easygoing, diligent 

ANGRY: aggressive, impatient, mouthy

AFRAID: Watchful, anxious, guarded, hesitant

IN LOVE: Silly, nervous, touchy, affectionate, talkative 

HATE SOMEONE: blunt, dismissive, avoidant 

WANT SOMETHING: manipulative, cheeky, flirtatious

CONFUSED: doubtfulness, anxiety, frustration

HOW DO THEY REACT TO…

DANGER: Overstimulation 

SOMEONE THEY HATE WHO HAS A CRUSH ON THEM: Disgust

PROPOSAL TO MARRY: Bewilderment, disbelief, hesitation 

DEATH OF LOVED ONE: Quietude, depression, neglect

DIFFICULT GAME/MATH/ETC: A challenge to be beaten

INJURY: Surprise

SOMETHING IRRESISTIBLY CUTE: Loss of composure, squealing and repetition

KNOWLEDGE

LANGUAGES: English and or Swedish, verse dependent (eg. Japanese, German)

SCHOOLING LEVEL: College educated

FAVORITE SUBJECT: Science

INTERESTED CAREERS: Mechanical/Acoustic engineer, biologist, bioengineer, geneticist, musician, artist, model, programmer, trophy wife, nothing that involves too much talking or dealing with people

EXPERTISE: technical skills such as working with machines, languages- especially code and mathematics, music, verse dependent sciences

[gracedman]

Proverbs 4:5–9 (ESV)

Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

  Proverbs 23:23 (ESV)

Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

  Proverbs 18:15 (ESV)

An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

  Proverbs 16:16 (ESV)

How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

  Proverbs 19:8 (ESV)

Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.

  Proverbs 15:32 (ESV)

Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

  Proverbs 1:5–7 (ESV)

Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 In each of these verses there is at least one usage of the Hebrew verb that is translated “get, buy, obtain, or gain.” In Proverbs, these uses are always addressed as a command to an individual and not to a group of people. There are other places in the Bible where groups are addressed, but Proverbs speaks to us as a singular unit. Each of us are called to personally “get wisdom.”  Now Solomon did and his people noticed:

  1 Kings 3:28 (ESV)

And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

 Solomon had pursued the God of wisdom and God answered his cry. God heard Daniel’s cry as well:

  Daniel 9:22–23 (ESV)

He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.

 Oh, my dear friend, get God’s wisdom. Acquire it, appropriate it, and possess it as your own. But perhaps we might ask like Job:

  Job 28:12–28 (ESV)

“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. “From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then he saw it and declared it; he established it and searched it out. And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”

 God alone has the wisdom that we need. He alone can keep us from being a debtor under obligation to our flesh, our genetics, our fallen frame of reference. He can give us wisdom and understanding to enable us and to ennoble us. He gives wisdom to us when we live in godly humility and receive from his throne of grace:

  James 1:5 (ESV)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

  Proverbs 3:26 (ESV)

for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

Lord Jesus, grand and glorious are the benefits of your wisdom. Help us to get your wisdom. And not forget and forsake it. We need it to guard us and keep us. We need it to exalt and honor us. Your wisdom from above is our greatest treasure. Pour it out into our lives we ask. Amen!!!