16:22

Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:

22a
Understanding is a fountain of life to its possessor,

22b but the discipline of fools is folly.

This proverb contrasts the life-giving benefits of being sensible with the bad consequences of acting foolishly.

16:22a

Understanding is a fountain of life to its possessor: The clause Understanding is a fountain of life is a metaphor. It compares good sense or shrewdness to a spring or other source of flowing water. The similarity is that both are necessary for life. For more information on how to translate this metaphor, see the note on 13:14a. Some other ways to express the meaning of this line are:

Discretion is a life-giving fountain to those who possess it (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Understanding is like a fountain which gives life to those who use it (New Century Version)

Understanding: The word śekel, which the Berean Standard Bible translates as Understanding, refers to people who are sensible or prudent. They are people who act wisely.

16:22b

but the discipline of fools is folly: The words folly and fools both refer to moral foolishness. For the word discipline, see discipline in the Glossary.

There are three main interpretations of this clause:

(1) The foolishness of a fool results in his punishment. For example:

but folly leads to the discipline of fools (NET Bible)

(2) A fool’s own foolishness is his punishment. In other words, a fool is punished by his own foolishness. For example:

the folly of fools is their own punishment (New Jerusalem Bible)

(3) It is foolish to instruct or discipline a fool. For example:

but the discipline of fools is folly (New American Standard Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Many verses in Proverbs refer to the painful or disastrous consequences of foolish behavior. These consequences include beatings, retaliation by angry people, and death. No other verses in Proverbs refer to a fool’s own foolishness as his punishment.

© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.