Proverbs 14:9
in Proverbs 14Fools mock the making of amends, but goodwill is found among the upright.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
A trespass-offering mocketh fools; But among the upright there is good will.
KJV
Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.
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This verse in Proverbs 14
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Fools make a mock - The verb in the Heb. is singular, the noun plural. The King James Version assumes that the number is altered to individualize the application of the maxim. Others translate it: “Sin mocks the fools who are its victims,” i. e., disappoints and ruins them; or, “A sin-offering does but mock the worshippers when they are willfully wicked:” they expect to gain God’s favor, and do not gain it. So taken it becomes parallel to Pro 15:8; Pro 21:7.
This site's exposition
A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not
on Proverbs 14:6-9
A scorner seeks wisdom the way a thief seeks daylight, wanting the reputation without the discipline, and finds nothing because the search itself is dishonest, while knowledge comes easily to the man who actually wants to understand. Departing from a foolish man's company is itself an act of wisdom, since his lips carry no knowledge worth the risk of staying near them. The cluster lands on the chapter's hardest line: fools make a mock at sin, treating guilt itself as a joke, while among the righteous favour is the settled state sin can never counterfeit.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Fools make a mock at sin,.... At sinful actions, their own or others; they make light of them, a jest of them, call evil good, and good evil; take pleasure in doing them themselves, and in those that do them; yea, sport themselves with the mischief that arises from them unto others; they make a mock at reproofs for them, and scoff at those that instruct and rebuke them; and laugh at a future state, and an awful judgment they are warned of, and in a scoffing manner say, "where is the promise of his coming?"
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Fools make a mock at sin--or, "Sin deludes fools." righteous . . . favour--that is, of God, instead of the punishment of sin.
Fools make a mock at sin - And only fools would do so. But he that makes a sport of sinning, will find it no sport to suffer the vengeance of an eternal fire. Some learned men by their criticisms have brought this verse into embarrassments, out of which they were not able to extricate it. I believe we shall not come much nearer the sense than our present version does.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
One’s heart knows the bitterness of his soul His toil and labor that he toiled with the Torah. Therefore, in his joy a stranger shall not mingle.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֱ֭וִלִים | ʾevilim | fools | H191 → | 26 times |
| יָלִ֣יץ | yalitz | he mocks | H3887 → | 28 times |
| אָשָׁ֑ם | ʾasham | guilt | H817 → | |
| וּבֵ֖ין | uvein | and [is] between | H996 → | 407 times |
| יְשָׁרִ֣ים | yesharim | upright [people] | H3477 → | 119 times |
| רָצֽוֹן׃ | ratzon | favor | H7522 → | 56 times |
אֱ֭וִלִיםfools
ʾevilimH191 →26 times
יָלִ֣יץhe mocks
yalitzH3887 →28 times
אָשָׁ֑םguilt
ʾashamH817 →
וּבֵ֖יןand [is] between
uveinH996 →407 times
יְשָׁרִ֣יםupright [people]
yesharimH3477 →119 times
רָצֽוֹן׃favor
ratzonH7522 →56 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 8:35For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of the LORD.
it leads to
- John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- 1 John 5:11–12
And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
- Proverbs 12:2
The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.
- John 3:36
Through
Jude 1:18when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.”
it leads to
- 2 Peter 3:3
Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
- 2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.
- 2 Timothy 3:13
while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
- 2 Timothy 3:1–5
But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.
- 1 Timothy 4:1–2
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
- 2 Peter 3:3
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.