Proverbs 17:16
in Proverbs 17Why should the fool have money in his hand with no intention of buying wisdom?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, Seeing he hath no understanding?
KJV
Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?
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This verse in Proverbs 17
Commentary
4 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
More literally: Why is there a price in the hand of a fool? Is it to get wisdom when he has no heart for it? No money will avail without the understanding heart.
This site's exposition
The beginning of strife
on Proverbs 17:14-16
Strife begins as water let out, a small breach that widens past control unless contention is left off before it is meddled with, the chapter's own image for how quarrels grow. Justifying the wicked and condemning the just are named together as abomination, a judicial pairing the bench reads as one offence in two directions. The price in a fool's hand asks the book's plainest question: what use is the means to buy wisdom in a hand that has no heart for it.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
What does it profit a fool to have riches, etc.? What does it profit the people of the Jews to have the riches of the Scriptures in faith if they cannot understand Christ in them? What does it profit a heretic to abound in the …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom,.... Natural wisdom and knowledge.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Why is there a price in the fool’s hand to buy wisdom To learn the Torah.
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. 3 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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָמָּה־ | lamah- | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| זֶּ֣ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| מְחִ֣יר | mechir | [is] a price | H4242 → | |
| בְּיַד־ | beyad- | in [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| כְּסִ֑יל | kesil | a fool | H3684 → | 70 times |
| לִקְנ֖וֹת | liknot | to acquire | H7069 → | 84 times |
| חָכְמָ֣ה | chokhmah | wisdom | H2451 → | 153 times |
| וְלֶב־ | velev- | and [is] heart | H3820 → | 595 times |
| אָֽיִן׃ | ʾayin | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
לָמָּה־<to> why?
lamah-H4100 →752 times
זֶּ֣הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
מְחִ֣יר[is] a price
mechirH4242 →
בְּיַד־in [the] hand of
beyad-H3027 →1618 times
כְּסִ֑ילa fool
kesilH3684 →70 times
לִקְנ֖וֹתto acquire
liknotH7069 →84 times
חָכְמָ֣הwisdom
chokhmahH2451 →153 times
וְלֶב־and [is] heart
velev-H3820 →595 times
אָֽיִן׃there not
ʾayinH369 →789 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 23:23Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
it leads to
- Proverbs 18:15
The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it out.
- Matthew 13:44
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that…
- Psalms 119:72
The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
- Proverbs 16:16
How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.
- Philippians 3:7–8
But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ.
- Proverbs 18:15
Through
Deuteronomy 5:29If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.
it leads to
- Isaiah 48:18
If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
- Ezekiel 33:31–32
So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest…
- Deuteronomy 11:1
You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.
- Isaiah 48:18
Where this verse is studied
About Proverbs
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).