Proverbs 14:18

18 The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

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Proverbs 14:18 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
18 The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
English Standard Version (ESV)
18 The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
New Living Translation (NLT)
18 Simpletons are clothed with foolishness, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
The Message Bible (MSG)
18 Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion; wise realists plant their feet on the ground.
American Standard Version (ASV)
18 The simple inherit folly; But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
18 Gullible people are gifted with stupidity, but sensible people are crowned with knowledge.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
18 The gullible inherit foolishness, but the sensible are crowned with knowledge.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
18 Childish people act in keeping with their foolish ways. But knowledge makes wise people feel like kings.

Proverbs 14:18 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 14:18

The simple inherit folly
It is natural and hereditary to them, they are born like wild asses colts; the foolish sayings and proverbs, customs and practices, of their ancestors, though they have been demonstrated to be mere folly, yet these, their posterity, approve them; they love, like, and retain them as their patrimony, ( Job 11:12 ) ( Psalms 49:13 ) . Such are the foolish traditions, customs, principles, and doctrines, of the church of Rome, handed down from father to son; and because Popery is the religion they have been bred and brought up in, though so foolish and absurd, they will not relinquish it; but the prudent are crowned with knowledge;
natural, civil, and spiritual, especially the latter; evangelical knowledge, the knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ, and of Gospel truths; they are honoured with an acquaintance with them; and they esteem the knowledge of these above all things else, and reckon all things else but loss and dung in comparison of them; they are as a crown unto them, and the knowledge of them is the way to the crown of life; yea, is itself life eternal, ( Philippians 3:8 ) ( John 17:3 ) . Or, they "crown themselves with knowledge" {p}; they labour after it, pursue it with eagerness, follow on to know the Lord, and attain to a large share of it; surround, encompass, and lay hold upon it, and gird themselves about with this girdle of truth. Or, "they crown knowledge" F17; do honour to that, by putting it in practice; by adding to it temperance, and every virtue, and by bringing others to it; and are an ornament to it in their lives and conversation; they adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (ted wrytky) "imponent coronam sibi scientiam", Montanus; "coronant se scientia", Piscator, so Ben Melech.
F17 "Coronabunt scientiam", Baynus; "ornant scientiam", Drusius.

Proverbs 14:18 In-Context

16 The wise fear the LORD and shun evil, but a fool is hotheaded and yet feels secure.
17 A quick-tempered person does foolish things, and the one who devises evil schemes is hated.
18 The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
19 Evildoers will bow down in the presence of the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
20 The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends.
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