Verses 22-33 contain Wisdom’s message to the people. In many languages it will be necessary to add “She says:. . .” or “This is what she says:. . .” at this point.

Verses 22-27 are addressed to the people mentioned in verse 22 using “you [plural].” However, verses 28-32 switch to “they.” Some modern translations keep the “you” form throughout. See Good News Translation.

“How long?” is not a question about time; rather it opens a rhetorical question meaning “All the time you are being foolish. It is time to stop” or “You have been foolish for too long. Stop being foolish.”

“Simple ones” renders the same word as used in verse 4; however, here it refers not just to immature and inexperienced people but rather to those who, as Toy says, “love ignorance, and deliberately refuse to listen to instruction in right living.” Many versions use terms equivalent to “silly,” “stupid,” or “foolish.” In verse 7 fools are described as despising wisdom. Such people are contrasted often to the wise who listen to advice. Foolish people not only reject the highest wisdom, they literally “love” foolishness.

In some languages such persons are described by bad body parts such as “black livers,” “gourd heads,” or “rotten heart people.”

In the second line Revised Standard Version and many other versions supply “How long?” to introduce the parallel question. The Hebrew does not repeat the question form. “Scoffers” renders a term used in Psa 1.1 and Isa 29.20 that refers to people who openly scorn or ridicule God and religion. The term is used often in Proverbs for a person who expresses contempt for wisdom. In some languages “scoffers” is expressed figuratively as “people who shake their finger at” or “. . . wag their head at.” “Delight in” in the second line matches “love” in the first line.

“Fools hate knowledge”: “Fools” renders a noun whose verb form is found only in Jer 10.8, where it means “to be foolish.” Toy says the noun refers to a person who is “insensible to moral truth and acts without regard to it.” “Hate” is used here in the same way as in Micah 3.2. It is in contrast with “love” and “delight in” in the first two lines. “Knowledge” is the same word as used in verse 7. To “hate knowledge” is to “reject” or “refuse” it.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .