A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.
Parallel translations
- WEB The foolish woman is loud, undisciplined, and knows nothing.
- BSB The woman named Folly is loud; she is naive and knows nothing.
- NKJV A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knows nothing.
- NASB ¶A woman of foolishness is boisterous, She has a lack of understanding and knows nothing.
- NLT The woman named Folly is brash. She is ignorant and doesn’t know it.
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
Folly is personified as a loud, undisciplined woman who knows nothing. Folly is brash and empty, the opposite of wisdom.
Overview
In deliberate contrast to Lady Wisdom, Folly is introduced as boisterous, ignorant, and lacking restraint. Her noise masks her emptiness; she has nothing of real worth to offer. This portrait warns that the loudest, most enticing voices are often the most hollow, a danger from which only the fear of the Lord protects us.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Prov 7:11(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
- Prov 5:6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
- Prov 21:19It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
- 1 Tim 6:4He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
- Prov 21:9It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
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 9:13 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.