Proverbs 14
The full text of Proverbs 14 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 The wisest of women builds her house,
but with her own hands the foolish one tears it down.
2 Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD,
but whoever is devious in his ways despises him.
3 The mouth of the fool is a rod for his back,
but the lips of the wise will protect them.
4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
5 A faithful witness does not lie,
but a false witness breathes out lies.
6 A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none,
but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.
7 Stay away from a foolish man,
for you will not find words of knowledge there.
8 The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way,
but the folly of fools is deceiving.
9 Fools mock at sin,
but among the upright there is goodwill.
10 The heart knows its own bitterness,
and no stranger shares its joy.
11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed,
but the tent of the upright will flourish.
12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way of death.
13 Even in laughter the heart may ache,
and the end of joy may be grief.
14 The one of crooked heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways,
and a good man will be satisfied from his.
15 The simple believes everything,
but the prudent gives thought to his steps.
16 A wise man is cautious and turns from evil,
but a fool is arrogant and careless.
17 A man of quick temper acts foolishly,
and a man of evil schemes is hated.
18 The simple inherit folly,
but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
19 The evil bow down before the good,
and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
20 The poor is disliked even by his neighbor,
but the rich has many friends.
21 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner,
but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.
22 Do not those who devise evil go astray?
Those who devise good find steadfast love and faithfulness.
23 In all toil there is profit,
but mere talk leads only to want.
24 The crown of the wise is their wealth,
but the folly of fools is folly.
25 A truthful witness saves lives,
but a deceitful witness breathes out lies.
26 In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
and his children will have a refuge.
27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
turning one away from the snares of death.
28 The glory of a king is a large population;
without people a ruler has nothing.
29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but the one who is quick-tempered exalts folly.
30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh,
but envy makes the bones rot.
31 Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but whoever is generous to the needy honors him.
32 The wicked is overthrown through his evil,
but the righteous finds refuge in his death.
33 Wisdom rests in the heart of the discerning;
even in the midst of fools it makes itself known.
34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a reproach to any people.
35 A servant who deals wisely has the king's favor,
but his wrath falls on one who acts shamefully.
Translation notes (9)
- Proverbs 14:1a Hebrew chakhmot nashim is literally 'wisdoms of women', a plural noun governing the singular verb 'builds'. The same plural form chakhmot names personified Wisdom in Proverbs 9:1, and here it is best taken as an intensive or superlative plural, hence 'the wisest of women'. Her opposite is ivvelet, 'folly', likewise personified as a woman who demolishes her own house.
- Proverbs 14:4a Hebrew bar, rendered here as 'empty', elsewhere means 'grain'; the clause may thus be read either as a manger swept clean or as one holding no grain. The point rests on agrarian economics: oxen ('alafim) foul the feeding trough ('evus) and must be fed, yet their strength makes the harvest possible, so productivity is worth the mess and cost.
- Proverbs 14:9a The Hebrew 'asham (אָשָׁם) can mean 'guilt', 'sin', or the 'guilt offering' of Leviticus 5, and the clause is difficult: the verb yalits, 'mocks', is singular while 'evilim, 'fools', is plural. Some therefore take guilt itself as the subject, 'guilt mocks fools'; the rendering above understands the fools as the mockers, with the singular verb distributing over the plural subject.
- Proverbs 14:12a This proverb recurs verbatim at Proverbs 16:25, one of several doublets in the collection. The Hebrew acharit, 'end', denotes the final outcome or latter state of a course of action, and darkhei-mavet is literally plural, 'ways of death'.
- Proverbs 14:19a The verb shachu, 'bow down', depicts the posture of a suppliant seeking favor. In ancient Israel the city gate served as the seat of legal judgment and public business, so the wicked waiting at the gates of the righteous portrays a reversal of fortune: those who once held power now petition the upright for justice or mercy.
- Proverbs 14:24a The Masoretic Text repeats 'ivvelet, 'folly', in both halves of the second line, a tautology some regard as deliberate. The Septuagint diverges, reading panourgia, 'shrewdness', for 'wealth' and rendering the second line 'the occupation of fools is evil', which suggests its translators read a Hebrew text with 'ormah, 'shrewdness', in place of 'oshram, 'their wealth'. This translation follows the Hebrew as it stands.
- Proverbs 14:28a In ancient Near Eastern royal ideology a large population supplied labor, tribute, and soldiers, so sheer numbers constituted a king's splendor. The final clause reads literally mechittat razon, 'the ruin of a prince', employing razon, a rare term for a dignitary; a ruler stripped of subjects faces not mere lack but downfall.
- Proverbs 14:32a The Masoretic Text reads bemoto, 'in his death'. The Septuagint reflects betummo, 'in his integrity', a difference of a single transposed Hebrew consonant. This translation follows the Masoretic Text, which offers a rare glimpse of hope beyond death in Proverbs; the Septuagint reading yields a more conventional contrast between wickedness and blamelessness.
- Proverbs 14:35a Hebrew mevish (מֵבִישׁ), a causative participle of bosh, 'to be ashamed', denotes one who brings shame or disgrace rather than one who merely feels it. In this royal setting the term describes a servant whose conduct dishonors the court, explaining why the king's wrath falls on him; the same word marks the disgraceful son in Proverbs 10:5 and 17:2.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Hebrew and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Proverbs, is free to read here on the web.
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