The ear that hears the rebukes of life Will abide among the wise.
Parallel translations
- WEB The ear that listens to reproof lives, and will be at home among the wise.
- KJV The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.
- BSB He who listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.
- NASB One whose ear listens to a life-giving rebuke Will stay among the wise.
- NLT If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among 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
Whoever heeds life-giving correction will find a place among the wise. It matters because teachability is the doorway to wisdom and lasting community.
Overview
This proverb commends the person who listens to corrective reproof, promising they will dwell among the wise. Receiving rebuke is a mark of humility and the path to growth. It anticipates the discipleship life, in which God's correction is a sign of His fatherly love (Hebrews 12:5-11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 15:5A fool despises his father’s correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence.
- Prov 25:12As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.
- Prov 9:8–9Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
- John 15:3–4You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
- Prov 19:20Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end.
- Prov 1:23Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.
- Prov 13:20One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
- Isa 55:3Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
- 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.
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 15:31 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.