Proverbs 27:22

22 If you crush a fool in the mortar with the pestle {along with} the crushed grain, it will not drive folly from upon him.

Proverbs 27:22 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 27:22

Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat
with a pestle
As the manna was, ( Numbers 11:8 ) ; and as wheat beat and bruised in a mortar, or ground in a mill, retains its own nature; so, let a wicked man be used ever so roughly or severely, by words, admonitions, reproofs, and counsels; or by deeds, by corrections and punishment, by hard words or blows, whether publicly or privately; in the midst of the congregation, as the Targum and Syriac version; or of the sanhedrim and council, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; [yet] will not his foolishness depart from him;
his inbred depravity and natural malignity and folly will not remove, nor will he leave his course of sinning he has been accustomed to; he is stricken in vain, he will revolt more and more, ( Isaiah 1:5 ) ( Jeremiah 5:3 ) ( 13:23 ) . Anaxarchus the philosopher was ordered by the tyrant Nicocreon to be pounded to death in a stone mortar with iron pestles ^F17, and which he endured with great patience.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 Laert. in Vit. Anaxarch. l. 9. p. 668.

Proverbs 27:22 In-Context

20 Sheol and Abaddon will not be satisfied, and the eyes of a person will not be satisfied [either].

21 A crucible [is] for the silver, and a furnace for the gold, but a man [is tested by] the mouth of him who praises him.

22 If you crush a fool in the mortar with the pestle {along with} the crushed grain, it will not drive folly from upon him.

23 You will surely know the {condition} of your flock; your heart attends to the herds.

24 For riches [are] not forever, nor a crown for generation [after] generation.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "in the midst of"