One who neglects discipline rejects himself, But one who listens to a rebuke acquires 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.
- BSB He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
- NKJV He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets 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 3:19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Prov 1:24–33Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;
- Prov 1:7The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
- Jer 5:3O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
- Prov 8:33–36Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it.
- Prov 18:15The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
- Isa 1:5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Prov 29:1He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.
- Prov 15:21Folly is joy to one who is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding keeps his way straight.
- Prov 17:16Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, since he has no understanding?
- Prov 5:11–13You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
- Matt 7:24–27“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.
- Deut 21:18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them;
- Ps 50:17since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
- Deut 21:20They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
- Jas 1:22But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
- Prov 15:14The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
- Ezek 24:13–14In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.
- Heb 12:15looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it;
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.