For the turning away 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.
- BSB For the waywardness 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 sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”
- Jer 2:19“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- John 3:36One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
- Luke 16:19–25“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
- Heb 12:25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
- Ps 69:22Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.
- Luke 12:16–21He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly.
- Jer 48:11–12“Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.
- Deut 32:15–44But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
- Jas 5:5You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
- Heb 12:8But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.
- Heb 10:38–39But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- Ps 92:6–7A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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.