To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry.
Parallel translations
- WEB As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.
- KJV As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
- BSB Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.
- NKJV Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold Is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear.
- NASB Like an earring of gold and a jewelry piece of fine gold, Is a wise person who offers rebukes to a listening ear.
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 wise rebuke to a willing listener is as valuable as fine gold jewelry. Correction received well is a precious gift.
Overview
The proverb honors both the wise reprover and the obedient ear that heeds correction, presenting rebuke as adornment rather than insult. Humble teachability turns criticism into growth (Prov 9:8-9). It models the kind of openness God's people should have toward his correcting word (Heb 12:5-6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 141:5Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
- Prov 15:31–32The ear that listens to reproof lives, and will be at home among the wise.
- Prov 9:8Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
- Prov 15:5A fool despises his father’s correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence.
- Prov 27:5–6Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
- 1 Sam 25:31–34that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When Yahweh has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
- Prov 1:8–9My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
- Job 42:11Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.
- Prov 20:12The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Yahweh has made even both of them.
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 25:12 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.