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Proverbs 10:23

in Proverbs 10

The fool delights in shameful conduct, but a man of understanding has wisdom.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness; And so is wisdom to a man of understanding.

KJV

It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.

This verse in Proverbs 10

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Proverbs · Written before 735.

As if through laughter a fool works mischief, etc. Prudence takes its name from providence. Therefore, it is foolish to rejoice in mischief (Proverb. XIV). However, it is wise and worthy of a man to foresee that laughter will be mixed with pain, and the …

This site's exposition

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver

on Proverbs 10:20-25

The unit weighs the tongue: “The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of judgment”. “The blessing of the LORD enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it” answers the wealth sayings of the chapter's opening.

This site's exposition

The fool delights in shameful conduct

The Hebrew says shameful conduct is like laughter to the fool, a game he plays for amusement. Bede adds that the wise man looks ahead and sees the pain that follows such laughter. Understanding takes its pleasure in wisdom.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

It is as sport to a fool to do mischief,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

It is a sport to a fool to do mischief - What a millstone weight of iniquity hangs about the necks of most of the jesters. facetious and witty people! “How many lies do they tell in jest, to go to the devil in earnest!”
As the fool finds his sport in doing mischief, so the man of understanding finds in wisdom his truest refreshment and delight.

The words behind it

7 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • כִּשְׂח֣וֹק[is] like sport

    kischokH7814 →

  • לִ֭כְסִילfor a fool

    likhsilH3684 →70 times

  • עֲשׂ֣וֹתto do

    asotH6213 →2628 times

  • זִמָּ֑הwickedness

    zimahH2154 →29 times

  • וְ֝חָכְמָ֗הand wisdom

    vechakhemahH2451 →153 times

  • לְאִ֣ישׁfor a person of

    leishH376 →1663 times

  • תְּבוּנָֽה׃understanding

    tevunahH8394 →42 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Ecclesiastes 11:9

    Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes,…

    it leads to

    • Ecclesiastes 12:14

      For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

    • 1 John 2:15–16

      Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

    • Ecclesiastes 12:1

      Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”

    • Lamentations 3:27

      It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.

    • Ecclesiastes 3:17

      I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”

  • Through

    Proverbs 15:21

    Folly is joy to one who lacks judgment, but a man of understanding walks a straight path.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 5:15

      Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

    • Proverbs 14:16

      A wise man fears and turns from evil, but a fool is careless and reckless.

  • Through

    Proverbs 2:14

    from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,

    it leads to

    • Romans 1:32

      Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

Where this verse is studied

About Proverbs

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

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; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.