Proverbs 1:32

For the waywardness ¹  of the simpletons will kill ²  them, and the careless ease ³  of fools will destroy them.

biblegateway Pro 1:32

For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

biblegateway Pro 1:32

"For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

biblegateway Pro 1:32

For they are simpletons who turn away from me––to death. They are fools, and their own complacency will destroy them.

biblegateway Pro 1:32

Don't you see what happens, you simpletons, you idiots? Carelessness kills; complacency is murder.

SABDAweb Pro 1:32

For the turning back of the simple from teaching will be the cause of their death, and the peace of the foolish will be their destruction.

bibleoremus Pro 1:32

For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

biblegateway Pro 1:32

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them;

biblegateway Pro 1:32

For the waywardness ¹  of the simpletons will kill ²  them, and the careless ease ³  of fools will destroy them.

¹ tn Heb “turning away” (so KJV). The term מְשׁוּבַת (mÿshuvat, “turning away”) refers to moral defection and apostasy (BDB 1000 s.v.; cf. ASV “backsliding”). The noun מְשׁוּבַת (“turning away”) which appears at the end of Wisdom’s speech in 1:32 is from the same root as the verb תָּשׁוּבוּ (tashuvu, “turn!”) which appears at the beginning of this speech in 1:23. This repetition of the root שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn”) creates a wordplay: Because fools refuse to “turn to” wisdom (1:23), they will be destroyed by their “turning away” from wisdom (1:32). The wordplay highlights the poetic justice of their judgment. But here they have never embraced the teaching in the first place; so it means turning from the advice as opposed to turning to it.

² sn The Hebrew verb “to kill” (הָרַג, harag) is the end of the naive who refuse to change. The word is broad enough to include murder, massacre, killing in battle, and execution. Here it is judicial execution by God, using their own foolish choices as the means to ruin.

³ tn Heb “complacency” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “smugness.” The noun שַׁלְוַה (shalvah) means (1) positively: “quietness; peace; ease” and (2) negatively: “self-sufficiency; complacency; careless security” (BDB 1017 s.v.), which is the sense here. It is “repose gained by ignoring or neglecting the serious responsibilities of life” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 29).