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12 You have seen[a] a man wise in his own opinion[b]
there is more hope for a fool[c] than for him.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 26:12 tn Most translations render the verse as a question (“Have you seen…?” so KJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, Holman) while sometimes this construction is turned into a conditional sentence. But the Hebrew has a perfect verb form (רָאִיתָ; raʾita), expecting past time, without an interrogative or conditional marker. See the note at Prov 26:16.
  2. Proverbs 26:12 tn Heb “in his own eyes” (so ESV, NASB, NIV).
  3. Proverbs 26:12 sn Previous passages in the book of Proverbs all but deny the possibility of hope for the fool. So this proverb is saying there is absolutely no hope for the self-conceited person, and there might be a slight hope for the fool—he may yet figure out that he really is a fool.

12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own opinion?
    There’s more hope for a fool than for him.

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