Personification is a figure of speech in which someone speaks of something as if it could do things that animals or people can do. People often do this because it makes it easier to talk about things that we cannot see, such as wisdom or sin. People also do this because it is sometimes easier to talk about people's relationships with non-human things, such as wealth, as if they were like relationships between people. (See examples from the Bible below.)
### Reasons this is a translation issue
* Some languages do not use personification.
* Some languages use personification only in certain situations.
### Examples from the Bible
>Does not Wisdom call out? Does not Understanding raise her voice? (Proverbs 8:1 ULB)
* The author of Proverbs wrote of wisdom and understanding as if they are a woman who calls out to teach people. This means that they are not something hidden, but something obvious that people should pay attention to.
* Jesus spoke of wealth as if it were a master whom people might serve. Loving money and basing one's decisions on it is like serving it as a slave would serve his master.
* **You cannot serve God and wealth.** (Matthew 6:24 ULB)
* You cannot be devoted to both God and wealth.
* You cannot serve God if you want most to have wealth.
**Note**: We have broadened our definition of "personification" to include "zoomorphism" (speaking of other things as if they had animal characteristics) and "anthropomorphism" (speaking of non-human things as if they had human characteristics.)
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