Paragraph 23:9 Saying 9
23:9
The first line of this proverb gives a command. The second line gives the reason for the command.
9a Do not speak to a fool,
9b for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
The overall meaning is that it is useless to give wise advice to a fool, because he will reject it.
23:9a
Do not speak to a fool: In Hebrew, this command is literally “Do not speak in the ears of a fool.” To “speak in someone’s ears” is a Hebrew idiom. It means “to speak to someone directly so that they will hear you.” It does not mean “to speak in someone’s hearing.”
The second line (23:9b) implies that trying to advise a fool will be useless. In some languages, it may be helpful to make this explicit in the first line. For example:
Do not waste words on a fool (New Jerusalem Bible)
Another way to translate this command is:
Do not speak to a fool in order to advise/teach him
fool: In Hebrew, this word for fool refers to someone who does what is stupid and wrong because he is mentally lazy and self-satisfied. He does not understand the need to change his own foolish behavior and does not want to think about the consequences.
23:9b
for he will despise the wisdom of your words: This clause means that the fool will reject the wise advice that the young man gives him. It implies that the fool will understand what the advice means, but he will not value it or follow it.
despise: In Hebrew, this word means to despise, reject, or consider to be worthless. See how you translated the same word in 13:13. The context there is similar.
wisdom: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as wisdom refers in this context to words that are wise, sensible, or full of insight.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
who will not appreciate the shrewdness of your remarks (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
they will only ignore your wise words (New Century Version)
-or-
for he will despise the good sense of your words (English Standard Version)
General Comment on 23:9a–b
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the ideas in these two lines. For example:
Don’t try to talk sense to a fool; he can’t appreciate it. (Good News Translation)
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