15 A naive person[a] will believe anything, but the shrewd person discerns his steps.[b] 16 A wise person is cautious[c] and turns from evil, but a fool throws off restraint[d] and is overconfident.[e]
Proverbs 14:15sn The contrast is with the simpleton and the shrewd. The simpleton is the young person who is untrained morally or intellectually, and therefore gullible. The shrewd one is the prudent person, the one who has the ability to make critical discriminations.
Proverbs 14:15tnHeb “his step”; cf. TEV “sensible people watch their step.”
Proverbs 14:16tnHeb “fears.” Since the holy name (Yahweh, translated “the Lord”) is not used, it probably does not here mean fear of the Lord, but of the consequences of actions.
Proverbs 14:16tn The Hitpael of עָבַר (ʿavar, “to pass over”) means “to pass over the bounds of propriety; to act insolently” (BDB 720 s.v.; cf. ASV “beareth himself insolently”).
Proverbs 14:16tn The verb בָּטַח here denotes self-assurance or overconfidence. Fools are not cautious and do not fear the consequences of their actions.
Proverbs 14:15-16
English Standard Version
15 (A)The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. 16 (B)One who is wise is cautious[a] and (C)turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless.
24 The crown of the wise is their riches,[a] but the folly[b] of fools is folly. 25 A truthful witness[c] rescues lives,[d] but one who testifies falsely betrays them.[e]
Proverbs 14:24tc The LXX reads πανοῦργος (panourgos, “crafty”) which suggests deleting the שׁ (shin) from עָשְׁרָם (ʿoshram, “their riches”) and reading a noun or adj. derived from the verb עָרֹם (ʿarom, “be crafty). If the first case of “folly” in the second half is also emended, the proverb would read “The crown of the wise is their craftiness, but the garland of fools is folly.”sn C. H. Toy suggests that this line probably means that wealth is an ornament to those who use it well (Proverbs [ICC], 269). J. H. Greenstone suggests that it means that the wisdom of the wise, which is their crown of glory, constitutes their wealth (Proverbs, 155).
Proverbs 14:24tc The MT reads אִוֶלֶת (ʾivelet, “folly”). The editors of BHS propose emending the text to וְלִוְיַת (velivyat) from לִוְיָה (livyah, “wreath, garland”). This would provide the same parallelism (“garland” and “crown”) as Prov 4:9. The LXX reads διατριβὴ (diatribē, “lifestyle”). See M. Rotenberg, “The Meaning of אִוֶּלֶת in Proverbs,” LesŒ 25 (1960-1961): 201. A similar emendation is followed by NAB (“the diadem”) and NRSV (“the garland”).
Proverbs 14:25tn The noun נְפָשׁוֹת (nefashot) often means “souls,” but here “lives”—it functions as a metonymy for life (BDB 659 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 3.c).sn The setting of this proverb is the courtroom. One who tells the truth “saves” (מַצִּיל [matsil, “rescues; delivers”]) the lives of those falsely accused.
Proverbs 14:25tc In the MT the verb lacks agreement with the two nouns in either gender or number so that there is no clear subject: “but he breathes lies, deceit.” Revocalizing the consonants from וְיָפִחַ (veyafiakh, “and he breathes/testifies”) to וִיפֵחַ (vifeakh, “and a witness [of lies]”) and from מִרְמָה (mirmah, “deceit”) to the Piel participle מְרַמֶּה (merammeh, “betrays, deceives, leads astray”) produces a grammatically acceptable text. One may also supply by parallelism “…betrays lives.”
Proverbs 14:24-25
English Standard Version
24 The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the folly of fools brings folly. 25 A truthful witness saves lives, but one who (A)breathes out lies is deceitful.