A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise.
Parallel translations
- WEB A scoffer doesn’t love to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.
- BSB A mocker does not love to be reproved, nor will he consult the wise.
- NKJV A scoffer does not love one who corrects him, Nor will he go to the wise.
- NASB A scoffer does not love one who rebukes him; He will not go to the wise.
- NLT Mockers hate to be corrected, so they stay away from the wise.
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
A scoffer resents correction and avoids the wise. Pride keeps the mocker from the help he needs.
Overview
The scorner dislikes being reproved and so shuns those who could teach him, cutting himself off from wisdom. His problem is not lack of opportunity but a proud, resistant heart. The proverb warns against the hardness that refuses counsel and commends instead the humility that welcomes it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Amos 5:10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
- Job 21:14Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
- 2 Tim 4:3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
- Prov 9:7–8He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
- John 7:7The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
- Prov 15:10Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.
- John 3:18–21He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
- 2 Chr 18:7And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 15:12 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.