He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.
Parallel Translations
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He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.
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He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
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He that refuseth correction despiseth his own soul; but he that hearkeneth to reproof getteth understanding.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Proverbs 15:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 1:24-33 Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention; but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you, when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me; because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh. They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes. For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”
- Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Proverbs 1:7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
- Proverbs 8:33-36 Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it. Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts. For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”
- Proverbs 18:15 The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
- Isaiah 1:5 Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Jeremiah 5:3 O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
- Deuteronomy 21:18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them,
- Deuteronomy 21:20 They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
- Psalms 50:17 since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
- Proverbs 5:11-13 You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
- Proverbs 15:14 The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
- Proverbs 15:21 Folly is joy to one who is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding keeps his way straight.
- Proverbs 17:16 Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, since he has no understanding?
- Proverbs 29:1 He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.
- Matthew 7:24-27 “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
- James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
- Ezekiel 24:13-14 “ ‘ “In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you won’t be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. I, Yahweh, have spoken it. It will happen, and I will do it. I won’t go back. I won’t spare. I won’t repent. According to your ways, and according to your doings, they will judge you,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
- Hebrews 12:15 looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 15:32 He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own…
Pro 15:32 He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
Ver. 32. He that refuseth instruction, despiseth his own soul.] Is a sinner against his own soul, as Korah and his complices were, and sets as light by it as if it were not worth looking after. Oh! is it nothing to lose an immortal soul, to purchase an ever-living death? Wilt thou destroy that for which Christ died? {1Co 8:11} What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? There is no great matter in the earth but man, nothing great in man but his soul, said Faverinus. "Whose image and superscription is it" but God’s? "Give," therefore, "unto God the things that are God’s," by delivering it up to his discipline.
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But he that heareth reproof, getteth understanding.] Heb., Possesseth his heart. This is like that sentence of our blessed Saviour, "In your patience possess ye your souls." {Luk 21:19} They have need of patience that must hear reproof; for man is a cross creature, and likes not to be controlled or contraried. "But suffer," saith that great apostle, "the words of exhortation"; suffer them in God’s name, sharp though they be, and set on with some more than ordinary earnestness. Better it is that the vine should bleed than die. Sinite virgam corripientem, ne sentitatis malleum conterentem. Certes, "when the Lord shall have done to you according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning you, and hath brought you to his kingdom, this shall be no grief unto you or offence of heart," as he said in a like case, {1Sa 25:30-31} that you have hearkened to instruction, and been bettered by reproof.
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 Despiseth his own soul; which hereby he exposeth to…
Despiseth his own soul; which hereby he exposeth to the danger of utter destruction, whereby he shows his folly.
Getteth understanding; whereby he saveth his soul. Heb. possesseth an heart, which the Hebrews make the seat of wisdom.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain See here, 1. The folly of those that will…
See here, 1. The folly of those that will not be taught, that refuse instruction, that will not heed it, but turn their backs upon it, or will not hear it, but turn their hearts against it. They refuse correction (margin); they will not take it, no, not from God himself, but kick against the pricks. Those that do so despise their own souls; they show that they have a low and mean opinion of them, and are in little care and concern about them, considered as rational and immortal, instruction being designed to cultivate reason and prepare for the immortal state. The fundamental error of sinners is undervaluing their own souls; therefore they neglect to provide for them, abuse them, expose them, prefer the body before the soul, and wrong the soul to please the body. 2. The wisdom of those that are willing, not only to be taught, but to be reproved: He that hears reproof, and amends the faults he is reproved for, gets understanding, by which his soul is secured from bad ways and directed in good ways, and thereby he both evidences the value he has for his own soul and puts true honour upon it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He that refuseth instruction,.... The instruction of parents, masters,…
He that refuseth instruction,.... The instruction of parents, masters, ministers, and of God himself; or "correction" (y), instruction either by the word or by the rod; he that withdraws himself from it, will not be in the way of it, that shuns, neglects, and despises it, or carelessly and contemptuously attends it:
despiseth his own soul; shows that he makes no account of it, has no regard for it or care about it, when it is so precious a jewel, and the loss of it irreparable; not that a man can strictly and properly despise his soul, but comparatively, having a greater regard for his body, and especially for his carnal lusts and pleasures, than for that; or as a man diseased and refuses proper medicines may be said to despise his health;
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but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding; or "a heart" (z); he gets understanding by listening to reproof, and behaving according to it; he better understands himself and his case, what he should shun and avoid, what he should receive, embrace, and do; instead of losing his soul, as the man that refuses correction does, he finds the life of it, and possesses it, and with it a large share of experience and spiritual wisdom.
(y) "correctionem", Pagninus, Vatablus; "qui abstrahit se a castigatione", Piscator. (z) "cor", Pagninus, Piscator, Schultens, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 32. Despiseth his own soul] That is constructively;…
Verse 32. Despiseth his own soul] That is constructively; for if the instruction lead to the preservation of life and soul, he that neglects or despises it throws all as much in the way of danger as if he actually hated himself.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain refuseth--or, "neglects," "passes by" (Pro 1:25; Pro 4:15).
refuseth--or, "neglects," "passes by" (Pro 1:25; Pro 4:15).
despiseth . . . soul--so acts as if esteeming its interests of no value.
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 32. Despiseth his own soul — Or, his life,…
32. Despiseth his own soul — Or, his life, or himself; meaning, acts as though he did, and does so in effect. Pro_8:36.
Getteth understanding — Hebrew, possesseth a heart; that is, intellect. As an illustration of the first clause, we give the following passage from Butler’s Analogy, chap. ii: “We may, by rashness, ungoverned passion, wilfulness, or even by negligence, make ourselves as miserable as we please. And many do make themselves extremely miserable; that is, they do what they know beforehand will render them so: they follow those ways, the fruit of which they know by instruction, example, and experience, will bring disgrace, poverty, sickness, and untimely death.” Comp. Pro_16:16; Pro_19:8.
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 32. understanding] Lit. heart. Comp. void of wisdom (Lit.…
32. understanding] Lit. heart. Comp. void of wisdom (Lit. heart), Pro_15:21, above, and Pro_2:2, note.
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain This verse carries on and puts the climax to…
This verse carries on and puts the climax to the lesson of the preceding. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul; "hateth himself," Septuagint; commits moral suicide, because he does not follow the path of life. He is like a sick man who thrusts away (apwyeitai , Septuagint) the wholesome medicine which is his only hope of cure. He that heareth (listeneth to) reproof getteth understanding; literally, possesseth a heart, and therefore does not despise his soul, but "loves it", (Pro_19:8) as the LXX renders.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 32. He that refuseth instruction, trying to withdraw…
v. 32. He that refuseth instruction, trying to withdraw from correction, paying no heed to it, despiseth his own soul, valuing it but lightly, not knowing or caring that the true enjoyment of life depends upon his accepting reproof; but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding, and thereby shows that he regards his soul properly.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.