and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
Parallel Translations
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and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
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And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
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And say: 'How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Proverbs 5:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
- Proverbs 1:7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
- Proverbs 1:22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
- Proverbs 1:25 but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof;
- Proverbs 15:5 A fool despises his father’s correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence.
- Exodus 2:13-14 He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?” He said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid, and said, “Surely this thing is known.”
- Psalms 50:17 since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
- Proverbs 13:18 Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline, but he who heeds correction shall be honored.
- Jeremiah 44:4 However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.”
- Zechariah 1:4-6 Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’ ”
- John 3:19-20 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
- Genesis 19:9 They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door.
- 2 Chronicles 24:20-22 The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you disobey Yahweh’s commandments, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’ ” They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house. Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh look at it, and repay it.”
- 2 Chronicles 25:16 As he talked with him, the king said to him, “Have we made you one of the king’s counselors? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” Then the prophet stopped, and said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this, and have not listened to my counsel.”
- 2 Chronicles 33:10-11 Yahweh spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they didn’t listen. Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
- 2 Chronicles 36:16 but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
- Psalms 73:22 I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
- Zechariah 7:11-14 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies. It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies; “but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
- Proverbs 1:29-30 because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh. They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
- Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction,…
Pro 5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
Ver. 12. And say, How have I hated, &c.] When cast out with the prodigal, and hath nothing left him but a diseased body, a distressed soul, then, all too late, he fills the air with doleful complaints of his former folly, and cries out, as he did, Totum vitae meae tempus perdidi, quia perdite vixi. {a} Oh, what a wretch, what a beast, what a maddened devil was I, so woefully to waste the fat and marrow of my dear and precious time, the flower of mine age, the strength of my body, the vigour of my spirits, the whole of mine estate, in sinful pleasures and sensual delights! Lo, here is a kind of repentance which, though late, yet, if it were true, would be accepted, {b} The mole, they say, begins to see when he dies, and not till then. Oculos incipit aperire moriendo, quos clausos habuit vivendo. {c} But it is a rare thing, and seldom seen, that any whoremonger doth truly repent. "One such man among a thousand have I found," saith Solomon - perhaps he meant himself - "but a woman among all those have I not found." {Ecc 7:28} And yet Scultetus tells us that Dr Speiser, minister of Ansborough, in Germany, preached there so powerfully, that the common harlots, there tolerated, left their filthy trade of life, and became very honest women. {d}
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And my heart despised reproof] Experience shows that they that are once given up to this sin are more graceless, profane, and incorrigible than others, deriders and contemners of all good counsel, having lost even the very light of nature, and so set in their sin, and so wedded and wedged to their wicked ways, as that they cannot be removed but by an extraordinary touch from the hand of Heaven.
{a} Bernard.
{b} Nunquam sero si serio.
{c} Tostat. ex Plinio.
{d} Anno 1523. Scultet., Annal. p. 118.
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 How have I hated instruction! oh what a mad…
How have I hated instruction! oh what a mad beast have I been, to hate and slight the fair warnings which were given me, and against mine own knowledge, to run headlong into this pit of destruction! which are not the words of a true penitent mourning for and turning from his sin, but only of a man who is grieved for the sad effects of his delightful lusts, and tormented with the horror of his own guilty conscience.
My heart despised reproof; I did with my whole heart abhor all admonitions.
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 And say, how have I hated instruction,.... To live…
And say, how have I hated instruction,.... To live virtuously, and avoid the adulterous woman; this he says, as wondering at his stupidity, folly, and madness, that he should hate and abhor that which was so much his interest to have observed. Gersom interprets it of the instruction of the law; but it is much better to understand it of the instruction of the Gospel; which the carnal mind of man is enmity unto, and which they are so stupid as to abhor; when it is of so much usefulness to preserve from error and heresy, superstition, will worship, and idolatry;
and my heart despised reproof; for following the whorish woman; and which was secretly despised in the heart, and heartily too, if not expressed with the mouth: it is one part of the Gospel ministry to reprove for false doctrine and false worship, though it generally falls under the contempt of the erroneous and idolatrous.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain More bitter than slavery, poverty, disease, will be the…
More bitter than slavery, poverty, disease, will be the bitterness of self-reproach, the hopeless remorse that worketh death.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The ruined sinner vainly laments his neglect of warning…
The ruined sinner vainly laments his neglect of warning and his sad fate in being brought to public disgrace.
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 12, 13. How have I — The repentance and…
12, 13. How have I — The repentance and lamentation here exhibited are of the bitterest kind. “In the line of my duty,” says Dr. A. Clarke, “I have often been called to the deathbeds of such persons, whose groans and shrieks were incessant through the jaculating pains in their bones and flesh.” Let youth beware; once entered on this foul course, recovery is almost hopeless.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) How have I hated instruction.—The last stage of…
(12) How have I hated instruction.—The last stage of misery is the remorse which comes too late. (Comp. Mat_25:30.)
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 Self-reproach accompanies the unavailable groaning. And say, How have…
Self-reproach accompanies the unavailable groaning. And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof! i.e. how could it ever come to pass that I have acted in such a senseless and inexcusable manner, that I have hated instruction (musar, disciplina, paideia ), the warning voice which dissuaded me from going with the harlot, and in my heart despised, i.e. rejected inwardly, whatever my outward demeanour may have been, the reproof which followed after I had been with her! Despised (naats), as in Pro_1:30; comp. also Pro_15:5, "A fool despiseth his father"s instructions."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And say, How have I hated instruction, and my…
Pro_5:12
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
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Conscience as an instrument of punishment
These are supposed to be the words of a young man whose dissolute life had induced disease and want and infamy. He stands out upon the dim verge of life, a beacon light to all who live without God. Remorse, like a fierce vulture, had clutched upon his soul, and despair had cast the shadows of a cheerless night around him. It was from his moral reflections that his keenest anguish arose.
I. The natural authority of conscience, and its consequent power to inflict punishment.
1. If we would appreciate the capacity of the soul to suffer through the morbid action of the moral feelings, we must first understand its internal structure, its several faculties and powers. Man is endowed with various powers of reason, of sensibility, and of action. Of the principles of action, some are mechanical, as instinct and habit; some are animal, as the appetites and some of the desires and affections; and others rational, arising from a knowledge of his relations to other beings, and from a foresight of the proper consequences of his acts. He thus combines in his nature those laws which govern the brute creation with those which declare him to be made in the image of God, and suit him to a state of moral discipline. With this complex nature he is endowed with the power of self-government, which implies the due exercise of all the properties of his being, under the direction and control of one supreme authority. This authority is conscience, which God has enthroned in the human breast with all the attributes of sovereignty. The brute animal rushes on to the gratification of its desires without a thought beyond the immediate object in pursuit. Man brings under his eye the just relations of universal being, chooses and pursues.
2. Consider what a monitor conscience is. It teaches us to perform in good faith, as being right, that which we do; but it does not of itself supply an independent rule of right.
3. The government of conscience is not like that of the animal appetites. Its voice is gentle and persuasive, often drowned in the clamour of passion, or unheeded in the eager pursuit of forbidden pleasure.
4. If conscience is supreme, according to the original constitution of our nature, then, whatever may be the occasional, temporary abuse it may receive from the usurpation of the animal propensities, it must upon the whole, and taking all the range of our existence into the account, possess an ascendant power over man.
5. Go where you will, the natural dread of an accusing conscience will be found to have been the rod of terror to the guilty of all ages. No man will long abide the direct action of self-reproach. The restlessness of the soul, under the action of self-reproach, has displayed itself upon a wide scale in the cumbrous and often sanguinary superstitions of the heathen. We have seen the distress and anguish which a sense of guilt produces in the breast of the awakened sinner.
II. The nature and extent of the punitive action of conscience. In relation to God, a consciousness of guilt is accompanied--
1. With a sense of the loss of Divine favour and fellowship.
2. A sense of guilt is accompanied with an apprehension of punishment. In the breast of every man there exists a belief that this world is under a providential government, from the just awards of which he has something to hope or to fear in a future state of being. In relation to other moral beings, a sense of guilt is accompanied with--
(1) A loss of the confidence and esteem of the holy.
(2) A consciousness of guilt awakens remorse, a complex emotion, consisting of simple regret and moral disapprobation of ones self; in other words, it is moral regret.
Practical considerations:
1. How delusive is that hope of future happiness which, though it is built upon the natural goodness of God, manifested through a Mediator, makes no necessary reckoning of a holy life. It is not in the province of Omnipotence to produce moral happiness in a polluted soul.
2. We here perceive the reasonableness as well as certainty of future punishment. (Freeborn C. Hibbard, M.A.)
Womans lamentation over a wasted life
Women outnumber men in the family, in the Church, in the State, A God-loving, God-fearing womanhood will make a God-loving, God-fearing nationality.
1. A young woman who omits her opportunity of making home happy.
2. A young woman who spends her whole life, or wastes her young womanhood, in selfish display.
3. A young woman who wastes her opportunity of doing good.
4. A young woman who loses her opportunity of personal salvation. Opportunity gone, is gone for ever. Privileges wasted, wasted for ever. The soul lost, lost for ever. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Self-condemnations
I. Sensualists will be self-condemned in the end.
1. Because of the issue of sin in general, which must come to a self-condemnation.
2. Because of the strength of their sorrow arising out of their troubles.
3. Because of the force of truth, which will overcome all in the end.
4. Because of the power of conscience.
II. That which lies sorest upon the spirits of gross sinners in the end is, slighting instruction.
1. Because it is a great mercy for God to afford teachers.
2. Because not hearkening to instruction is the way to fall into sin, and not hearkening to reproof the way to abide in it.
III. Wicked men heartily hate instruction and slight reproof.
1. Because they are contrary to their corrupt affections and wicked lusts.
2. It appears that they heartily hate them by the malice they bear to the reprovers of their sins, which is vehement and deadly. Their lusts are so strong on them that they hate and slight all reproofs. (Francis Taylor, B.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.