15:2
Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:
2a
The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
2b but the mouth of the fool spouts folly.
The poetic synonyms “tongue” and “mouth” are figures of speech. They represent the words that are spoken by wise and foolish people.
15:2a
The tongue of the wise commends knowledge: There is a textual issue here that involves the word commends :
(1) The Masoretic Text (MT) has a word that is literally “makes good.” This text means that the wise person makes his knowledge pleasant or attractive to others when he shares it in speech. For example:
The wise person makes learning a joy (New Living Translation (1996))
-or-
When wise people speak, they make knowledge attractive (Good News Translation)
(2) To obtain better parallelism with “gushes” in 15:2b, some scholars propose that the original text had a word that is literally “drips.” This proposed text means that the wise person shares his knowledge ⌊in measured/appropriate amounts⌋ . For example:
The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge (New Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), along with most versions and scholars. The Masoretic Text makes good sense. Furthermore, the ancient versions do not follow a text with this proposed difference.
15:2b
but the mouth of the fool spouts folly: The verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as spouts usually means to express a person’s thoughts, feelings, and attitudes. (See the note on 1:23b.)
But here there is a connotation that the fool expresses his foolishness in an unrestrained manner. Some ways to express this connotation are:
but the mouths of fools pour out a flood of stupidity (God’s Word)
-or-
fools spout only foolishness (New Living Translation (1996))
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