This is one of several passages in Proverbs where the writer personified wisdom. Her call comes to people in the market, in the hustle and bustle of life, not in the seclusion of the home or sanctuary (cf. v. 8).36
"To whom does Wisdom speak? To three classes of sinners: the simple ones, the scorners (scoffers, mockers, NIV), and the fools (v. 22). The simpleare naive people who believe anything (14:15) but examine nothing. They're gullible and easily led astray. Scornersthink they know everything (21:24) and laugh at the things that are really important. While the simple one has a blank look on his face, the scorner wears a sneer. Foolsare people who are ignorant of truth because they're dull and stubborn. Their problem isn't a low IQ or poor education; their problem is a lack of spiritual desire to seek and find God's wisdom. Fools enjoy their foolishness but don't know how foolish they are! The outlook of fools is purely materialistic and humanistic. They hate knowledge and have no interest in things eternal."37
It is clear here that people have a choice about which way they will go. Their lives are to a large measure the result of their choices. The fool is one by his own fault, not by fate (vv. 30-31).38Wisdom laughs at the fool's calamity (v. 26), not because she is hard-hearted but because it is so absurd to choose folly (v. 26).
"The figure of laughing reveals the absurdity of choosing a foolish way of life and being totally unprepared for disaster."39
Verses 32 and 33 contrast the ultimate destruction of the unresponsive with the peaceful condition of the responsive.
