He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.
- KJV He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
- NKJV He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.
- NASB One who neglects discipline rejects himself, But one who listens to a rebuke acquires understanding.
- NLT If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.
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
Rejecting correction harms oneself, but heeding reproof gains understanding. It matters because how we respond to discipline shapes our own soul for good or ill.
Overview
Closely linked to the previous verse, this proverb warns that refusing correction is self-destructive, while accepting it grows wisdom. To despise reproof is to despise one's own well-being. The teachable heart that submits to God's correcting word grows in understanding and life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Rev 3:19Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
- Prov 1:24–33Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,
- Prov 1:7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
- Jer 5:3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
- Prov 8:33–36Listen to instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.
- Prov 18:15The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it out.
- Isa 1:5Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
- Prov 29:1A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.
- Prov 15:21Folly is joy to one who lacks judgment, but a man of understanding walks a straight path.
- Prov 17:16Why should the fool have money in his hand with no intention of buying wisdom?
- Prov 5:11–13At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
- Matt 7:24–27Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
- Deut 21:18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,
- Ps 50:17For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.
- Deut 21:20and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
- Jas 1:22Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
- Prov 15:14A discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.
- Ezek 24:13–14Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.
- Heb 12:15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 15:32 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.