“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
Parallel Translations
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“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
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How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
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'How long, ye thoughtless, will ye love thoughtlessness? And how long will scorners delight them in scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Cross-references (28)
Passages linked to Proverbs 1:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
- Proverbs 1:29 because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
- Proverbs 5:12 and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
- John 3:20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
- 2 Peter 3:3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts
- Matthew 9:13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
- Matthew 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
- Luke 19:42 saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.
- Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
- Proverbs 6:9 How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?
- Proverbs 19:29 Penalties are prepared for scoffers, and beatings for the backs of fools.
- Proverbs 21:11 When the mocker is punished, the simple gains wisdom. When the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.
- Exodus 10:3 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.
- Exodus 16:28 Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
- Numbers 14:27 “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me.
- Job 34:7 What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water,
- Psalms 94:8 Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?
- Proverbs 1:4 to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man:
- Proverbs 1:7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
- Proverbs 3:34 Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble.
- Proverbs 7:7 I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,
- Proverbs 8:5 You simple, understand prudence! You fools, be of an understanding heart!
- Proverbs 9:4-6 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, “Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed! Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding.”
- Proverbs 9:16-18 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.” as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, “Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
- Proverbs 14:6 A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.
- Proverbs 15:12 A scoffer doesn’t love to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.
- Matthew 17:17 Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.”
- Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Wisdom reproveth three kinds of men: the foolish or…
Wisdom reproveth three kinds of men: the foolish or simple which err of ignorance, and the mockers that cannot suffer to be taught, and the fools which are drowned in worldly lusts and hate the knowledge of godliness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye…
Pro 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Ver. 22. How long, ye simple ones.] The fatuelli that are easily persuaded into a fool’s paradise. These are the best sort of bad men; the apostle calls them Aκακοι. {Rom 16:18} Optimi putantur Pontifices (saith Papirius Massonius, a Popish writer) {a} si vel leniter mali sint; vel minus boni quam coeteri mortales esse solent. Those are thought to be very good popes that are not stark naught, or that have any good at all in them. These simplicians are much better than scorners that delight in their scorning, but far beyond those fools that hate knowledge. See a like gradation in Psa 1:1, {See Trapp on "Psa 1:1"} Peccata non sunt paria; Nemo repente fit turpissimus. All sins are not alike sinful, and wicked men grow worse and worse.
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{a} In Vita Pauli, iii.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Ye simple ones; ye ignorant, and easy, and credulous…
Ye simple ones; ye ignorant, and easy, and credulous persons, who are so soon cheated by the world and the devil, and do not understand your own interest.
Love simplicity; being unwilling to part with it, or to be made wiser. Scorners; that scoff at all religion, and contemn the word and faithful ministers of God.
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Fools; wilful and wicked fools, as Pro 17:10; 26:4.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?....…
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?.... Simple foolish things, agreeably to their character, being weak simple men, men of weak capacities and shallow understandings; and such were the first persons that were called by Christ through the ministry of the word, even effectually; they were babes and sucklings in comparison of others, by whom they were despised as illiterate and ignorant of the law; see Mat 11:25; though it may respect the Jews in general, who were externally called by Christ, and were a simple and foolish people, addicted to silly customs and usages, to the traditions of the elders, and loved the folly and darkness of them, and to continue in them, rather than the light of the Gospel, Joh 3:19;
and the scorners delight in their scorning; at Christ, because of the meanness of his parentage and education; at his disciples and followers, at his doctrines and miracles, sufferings and death;
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and fools hate knowledge? the knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ; the knowledge of the Gospel, and the truths of it; they hated the light of it, and did not care to come to it, but rather loved the darkness of the law, and even of error and infidelity; they hated Christ, the teacher of true and useful knowledge; they hated his person, though without a cause; they hated him in his offices, as a Prophet to instruct them, as a Priest to be the propitiation for them, and as a King to rule over them; such "fools" were they, and who are therefore expostulated with by Wisdom or Christ; which expostulations show their continuance in these things, and the danger they were in by them, the pity and compassion of Christ as man and a minister of the word, and the fervour and importunity of his ministrations.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Scoffers - That scoff at religion and contemn the…
Scoffers - That scoff at religion and contemn the word and faithful ministers of God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 22. Ye simple ones] פתים pethayim, ye who…
Verse 22. Ye simple ones] פתים pethayim, ye who have been seduced and deceived. See on Pr 1:4.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 1:22-23. How long, ye simple ones — Ye…
Pro 1:22-23. How long, ye simple ones — Ye ignorant, careless, and credulous persons, who are so easily deceived by sin and sinners, and cheated and deluded by the world, and the god of it, and do not understand or consider your own interest; will ye love simplicity? — Being unwilling to part with it, or to be made wise. And the scorners — That scoff at all religion, and despise the word and faithful ministers of God; delight in their scorning — Take pleasure, and glory in deriding and reviling the truths and precepts of the gospel, and the people and ways of God. And fools — That is, the wicked, for the Scriptures, with the utmost propriety, denominate all such, fools; hate knowledge — Which surely none but fools would hate. They hate it, because it lays open and reproves their errors, sins, and corrupt ways, which they cannot bear to have detected and rebuked. Hence they hate the knowledge of the divine laws, and also all those who are acquainted with them, and set a value upon them. Turn you at my reproof — Upon this admonition here given you, turn from your evil ways unto me. Behold — If you do so; I will pour out my spirit unto you — The gifts and graces of my Spirit, which God, whose wisdom here speaks, has promised to those that turn to him, and sincerely and earnestly ask them, Luk 11:13; Joh 4:14; and Joh 7:39. I will make known my words unto you — By my Spirit I will enable you truly and savingly to understand my word, which is hid from others, 2Co 4:3. The Hebrew, תשׁבו לתוכחתי, may be rendered, ye shall turn at my instruction, or correction; behold, אביעה לכם רוחי, ebulliam vobis Spiritum meum, I will cause my Spirit to ebulliate, or spring up within you, or, “I will make my Spirit flow upon you as a fountain, which produces its water.” The special and saving grace of God shall never be denied to any that honestly seek it and submit to it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Compare the Psa 1:1 note.
Compare the Psa 1:1 note.
(1) The “simple,” literally, “open,” i. e. fatally open to evil;
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(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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Fools. Hebrew, "and scorners delight in their scorning." (Protestants)…
Fools. Hebrew, "and scorners delight in their scorning." (Protestants) --- Such are the pests of society. (Haydock) --- They turn piety to ridicule, and will talk about things which they do not understand, like our esprits forts, (Calmet) or pretended philosophers. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain simple ones--(Compare Pro 1:4).
simple ones--(Compare Pro 1:4).
simplicity--implying ignorance.
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scorners-- (Psa 1:1) --who despise, as well as reject, truth.
fools--Though a different word is used from that of Pro 1:7, yet it is of the same meaning.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 22. There is a gradation here, as in Psa_1:1.…
22. There is a gradation here, as in Psa_1:1. Simple ones — See Pro_1:2. Scorners — Or, scoffers at that which is good.
Fools — כסילים, (kesilim,) a different word from that in Pro_1:7, but etymologically of nearly the same signification; dull, carnal, stupid, hardened ones. The change of person here (from the second to the third) is common in the Hebrew. The interrogatory how long? carries its force to each of the clauses.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 22. simple] unwary, see Pro_1:4 above, note.
22. simple] unwary, see Pro_1:4 above, note.
love simplicity] when you stand in need of that subtilty, which wisdom offers you (Pro_1:4). When war is at the gates, you are not safe without armour. “Parvuli, diligitis infantiam,” Vulg.
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scorners] The word is, with few exceptions, peculiar to this Book, in which “ ‘the scorners’ appear as a class of defiant and cynical freethinkers in contrast and antagonism to ‘the wise.’ The root-principle of their character is a spirit of proud self-sufficiency, a contemptuous disregard for God and man (Pro_21:24). It is impossible to reform them, for they hate reproof and will not seek instruction (Pro_13:1, Pro_15:12). If they seek for wisdom they will not find it (Pro_14:6). It is folly to argue with them (Pro_9:7-8). They are generally detested (Pro_24:9), and in the interests of peace must be banished from society (Pro_22:10). Divine judgements are in store for them, and their fate is a warning to the simple (Pro_3:34, Pro_19:25; Pro_19:29, Pro_21:11).” Kirkpatrick on Psa_1:1, in this Series.
fools] The Heb. word here used for “fool” signifies, heavy, dull, gross. See Pro_17:21, note.
simple, scorners, fools] The enumeration covers the field: the simple, from whom recruits are too easily drawn to the army of evil; scorners, the proud leaders of the host; fools, the rank and file of the host.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (22) How long . . .—Three classes of persons…
(22) How long . . .—Three classes of persons are here addressed: (1) simple ones, open to good influences, but also to evil (Pro_1:4); (2) scorners (lçtsîm), men who despised what was holy, priding themselves on their cleverness in so doing (Pro_14:6), who avoided the wise, and held themselves above their advice (Pro_15:12), proud, arrogant men (Pro_21:24). The name first appears at the time of Solomon, when the prosperity of the nation was favourable to the growth of religious indifference and scepticism. Isaiah had to deal with them in his day, too (Isa_28:14). (3) Fools (khesîlîm), dull, stupid persons, stolidly confident in their own wisdom.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?…
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? etc. From this verse to the end of the chapter the sacred writer puts before us the words of Wisdom herself. The discourse begins in the same way as in Psa_4:2 (Zockler), and the classification of the persons addressed the simple, the scorners, and the sinners closely resembles that of Psa_1:1. In the order there is a progression from the least to the most culpable. The simple ( pthayim) , as in ver. 4, those who are indifferent through thoughtlessness and inconsiderateness, and are thereby open to evil. The scorners ( letsim); or, mockers, the same as the (wOxl, latson) "scornful men" of Pro_29:8, derived from the root xWL (luts), "to deride, mock," probably by imitating the voice in derision. The mockers are those who hold all things in derision, both human and Divine, who contemn God"s admonitions, and treat with ridicule both threatenings and promises alike. Fools; (chsilim), a different word from the evilim of ver. 7, but signifying much the same, i.e. the obdurate, the hardened, stolidi, those who walk after the sight of their eyes and the imagination of their hearts a class not ignorant of knowledge, but hating it because of the restraint it puts them under. The word occurs in Pro_17:10, in the sense of the incorrigible; in Pro_26:3, 4 as a term of the greatest contempt. The enallage, or interchange of tenses in the original the verbs "love" and "hate" being future, and "delight" being perfect is not reproducible in English. The perfect is used interchangeably with the future where the action or state is represented as first coming to pass or in progress, and, as Zockler remarks, may be inchoative, and so be rendered "become fond of," instead of "be fond of." But it appears to represent not so much a state or action first coming to pass as in progress (see Geseuius, "Gram.," 3). Bottcher ( 2) translates it by concupiverint, i.e. "How long shall ye have delighted in scorning?" The futures express "love" and "hate" as habitual sentiments (Delitzsch). It is to be noted that the language of Wisdom, in vers. 22 and 23, is expressive of the most tender and earnest solicitude.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:22 Three main words in Proverbs describe those who…
1:22 Three main words in Proverbs describe those who lack God’s wisdom. Simpletons (Hebrew pethim) have not hardened themselves against God’s wisdom and are most open to correction (see 1:4). Fools (Hebrew kesilim) have heard God’s wisdom but resist it. Mockers (Hebrew latsonim) not only resist wisdom but even ridicule it.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.