Proverbs 1:22
in Proverbs 1“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?
KJV
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
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This verse in Proverbs 1
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Compare the Psa 1:1 note. (1) The “simple,” literally, “open,” i. e. fatally open to evil; (2) the “scorners,” mocking at all good; (3) lastly, the “fools” in the sense of being hardened, obstinate, perverse, hating the knowledge they have rejected.
This site's exposition
How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways
on Proverbs 1:22-27
Wisdom names three kinds of refusal, “simple ones,” “scoffers” and “fools,” the book's vocabulary for resistance to instruction, from the untaught to the contemptuous. Her answer, “I will mock your calamity,” is the harvest of a chosen path, spoken by the one who warned against it.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
How long, O simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long, little ones in the sense of the old covenant's ceremony, as the new one shines forth, will you love it? How long will you prefer Moses to Christ, the Law to the Gospel? How …
And fools hate knowledge? etc. It should be inferred from the previous how long, that is, how long will they desire? how long will they hate? They indeed desired harmful things and hated knowledge, who followed the surface of the legal letter, and refused to …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
In vain - The fowler who spreads, his net in the sight of the bird looseth his labour. But these, are more foolish than the silly birds, and though they are not ignorant of the mischief which these evil courses will bring upon themselves, yet they will not take warning. Their own blood - The destruction which they design to others, fall upon themselves.
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But scoffers at religion are especially meant, the worst of sinners, that scorn to submit to the truths and laws of Christ, and to the reproofs and admonitions of his word, and take a pride in running down every thing that is sacred and serious. [3.] Fools that hate knowledge. None but fools hate knowledge. Those only are enemies to religion that do not understand it aright.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Others think that wisdom, as the divine attribute specially employed in acts of counsel and admonition, is here personified, and represents God. In either case the address is a most solemn and divine admonition, whose matter and spirit are eminently evangelical and impressive (see on Pr 8:1).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
simple ones--(Compare Pr 1:4). simplicity--implying ignorance. scorners-- (Ps 1:1) --who despise, as well as reject, truth. fools--Though a different word is used from that of Pr 1:7, yet it is of the same meaning.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Ye simple ones - פתים pethayim, ye who have been seduced and deceived. See on Pro 1:4 (note).
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| מָתַ֣י׀ | matai | when? | H4970 → | 43 times |
| פְּתָיִם֮ | petayim | O naive people | H6612 → | 19 times |
| תְּֽאֵהֲב֫וּ | teehavu | will you love | H157 → | 211 times |
| פֶ֥תִי | feti | naivete | H6612 → | 19 times |
| וְלֵצִ֗ים | veletzim | and mockers | H3887 → | 28 times |
| לָ֭צוֹן | latzon | mockery | H3944 → | |
| חָמְד֣וּ | chamedu | do they delight in? | H2530 → | 25 times |
| לָהֶ֑ם | lahem | <for> themselves | ||
| וּ֝כְסִילִ֗ים | ukhesilim | and fools | H3684 → | 70 times |
| יִשְׂנְאוּ־ | yisneu- | will they hate? | H8130 → | 146 times |
| דָֽעַת׃ | daat | knowledge | H1847 → | 92 times |
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
מָתַ֣י׀when?
mataiH4970 →43 times
פְּתָיִם֮O naive people
petayimH6612 →19 times
תְּֽאֵהֲב֫וּwill you love
teehavuH157 →211 times
פֶ֥תִיnaivete
fetiH6612 →19 times
וְלֵצִ֗יםand mockers
veletzimH3887 →28 times
לָ֭צוֹןmockery
latzonH3944 →
חָמְד֣וּdo they delight in?
chameduH2530 →25 times
לָהֶ֑ם<for> themselves
lahem
וּ֝כְסִילִ֗יםand fools
ukhesilimH3684 →70 times
יִשְׂנְאוּ־will they hate?
yisneu-H8130 →146 times
דָֽעַת׃knowledge
daatH1847 →92 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
Psalms 1:1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.
it leads to
- Psalms 26:4–5
I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.
- Proverbs 4:14–15
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.
- Proverbs 13:20
He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
- Psalms 119:1–2
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 15:17
I never sat with the band of revelers, nor did I celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.
- Psalms 26:4–5
Through
John 3:20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
it leads to
- Ephesians 5:11–13
Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
- John 7:7
The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.
- Ephesians 5:11–13
Through
2 Peter 3:3Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
it leads to
- Jude 1:18
when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.”
- Jude 1:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
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); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.