Proverbs 14:18

18 Foolish behaviour is the heritage of the simple, but men of good sense are crowned with knowledge.

Proverbs 14:18 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 14:18

The simple inherit folly
It is natural and hereditary to them, they are born like wild asses colts; the foolish sayings and proverbs, customs and practices, of their ancestors, though they have been demonstrated to be mere folly, yet these, their posterity, approve them; they love, like, and retain them as their patrimony, ( Job 11:12 ) ( Psalms 49:13 ) . Such are the foolish traditions, customs, principles, and doctrines, of the church of Rome, handed down from father to son; and because Popery is the religion they have been bred and brought up in, though so foolish and absurd, they will not relinquish it; but the prudent are crowned with knowledge;
natural, civil, and spiritual, especially the latter; evangelical knowledge, the knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ, and of Gospel truths; they are honoured with an acquaintance with them; and they esteem the knowledge of these above all things else, and reckon all things else but loss and dung in comparison of them; they are as a crown unto them, and the knowledge of them is the way to the crown of life; yea, is itself life eternal, ( Philippians 3:8 ) ( John 17:3 ) . Or, they "crown themselves with knowledge" {p}; they labour after it, pursue it with eagerness, follow on to know the Lord, and attain to a large share of it; surround, encompass, and lay hold upon it, and gird themselves about with this girdle of truth. Or, "they crown knowledge" ^F17; do honour to that, by putting it in practice; by adding to it temperance, and every virtue, and by bringing others to it; and are an ornament to it in their lives and conversation; they adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (ted wrytky) "imponent coronam sibi scientiam", Montanus; "coronant se scientia", Piscator, so Ben Melech.
F17 "Coronabunt scientiam", Baynus; "ornant scientiam", Drusius.

Proverbs 14:18 In-Context

16 The wise man, fearing, keeps himself from evil; but the foolish man goes on in his pride, with no thought of danger.

17 He who is quickly angry will do what is foolish, but the man of good sense will have quiet.

18 Foolish behaviour is the heritage of the simple, but men of good sense are crowned with knowledge.

19 The knees of the evil are bent before the good; and sinners go down in the dust at the doors of the upright.

20 The poor man is hated even by his neighbour, but the man of wealth has numbers of friends.