For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.
- KJV For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
- NKJV For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
- NASB “For the faithlessness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
- NLT For simpletons turn away from me—to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The turning away of the simple and the complacency of fools destroy them. It matters because it shows both rebellion and careless indifference lead to ruin.
Overview
Two roads to destruction are named: the simple's backsliding and the fool's complacent ease. Spiritual carelessness is as deadly as outright rebellion. This sober verse exposes the danger of a comfortable indifference to wisdom and the fear of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 8:36But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
- Jer 2:19Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- John 3:36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- Luke 16:19–25Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
- Heb 12:25See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
- Ps 69:22May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.
- Luke 12:16–21Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance.
- Jer 48:11–12Moab has been at ease from youth, settled like wine on its dregs; he has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile. So his flavor has remained the same, and his aroma is unchanged.
- Deut 32:15–44But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- Jas 5:5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.
- Heb 12:8If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
- Heb 10:38–39But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”
- Ps 92:6–7A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 1:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.