C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on Proverbs 16:22
Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Browse this work.
Read Proverbs 16. Compare commentaries on this chapter.
Source and publication rights
Public domain. Public Domain. Source edition.
Berean Blue opens December 1, 2026. Explore this passage in the app preview.
Proverbs16:22
Pro 16:22 22 A fountain of life is understanding to its possessor; But the correction of fools is folly.
Oetinger, Bertheau, and others erroneously understand מוּסר of the education which fools bestow upon others; when fools is the subject spoken of, מוּסר is always the education which is bestowed on them, Pro 7:22; Pro 1:7; cf. Pro 5:23; Pro 15:5. Also מוסר does not here mean education, disciplina, in the moral sense (Symmachus, ἔννοια; Jerome, doctrina): that which fools gain from education, from training, is folly, for מוסר is the contrast to מקור חיּים, and has thus the meaning of correction or chastisement, Pro 15:10, Jer 30:14. And that the fruits of understanding (Pro 12:8, cf. שׂכל טוב, fine culture, Pro 13:15) represented by מקור חיים (vid., Pro 10:11) will accrue to the intelligent themselves, is shown not only by the contrast, but also by the expression: Scaturigo vitae est intellectus praeditorum eo, of those (= to those) who are endowed therewith (The lxx well, τοῖς κεκτημένοις). The man of understanding has in this intellectual possession a fountain of strength, a source of guidance, and a counsel which make his life secure, deepen, and adorn it; while, on the contrary, folly punishes itself by folly (cf. to the form, Pro 14:24), for the fool, when he does not come to himself (Psa 107:17-22), recklessly destroys his own prosperity.
C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, Proverbs 16:22. Public domain.
Permanent link. Source edition.