Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.
Parallel translations
- WEB Flog a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke one who has understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
- BSB Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware; rebuke the discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.
- NKJV Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary; Rebuke one who has understanding, and he will discern knowledge.
- NASB Strike a scoffer and the naive may become clever, But rebuke one who has understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
- NLT If you punish a mocker, the simpleminded will learn a lesson; if you correct the wise, they will be all the wiser.
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
Punishing a scoffer warns the naive, but a word of rebuke makes the wise wiser. People respond to correction according to their character.
Overview
This proverb observes that flogging a scoffer at least teaches the simple by example, while a mere verbal rebuke is enough to make the discerning grow in knowledge. It reveals how differently people receive correction depending on their character. The wise welcome reproof and profit from it, a teachable humility that marks the godly and stands ready to learn from God's discipline.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 21:11When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.
- Prov 17:10A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
- Rev 3:19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Prov 15:5A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
- Prov 9:8–10Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
- Deut 21:21And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
- Deut 13:11And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
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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 19:25 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
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