Proverbs 27:22

Proverbs 27:22 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
• New International Version (NIV)Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him.
• New Living Translation (NLT)You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.

Context of Proverbs 27:22

20Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man. 21The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise. Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him. 23Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, 24for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations?

Proverbs 27:22 word by word

אִ֥ם תִּכְתּֽוֹשׁ־אֶת־הָאֱוִ֨יל׀ בַּֽמַּכְתֵּ֡שׁ בְּת֣וֹךְ הָ֭רִיפוֹת בַּֽעֱלִ֑י לֹא־תָס֥וּר מֵ֝עָלָ֗יו אִוַּלְתּֽוֹ׃ פRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Though thou shouldest brayכָּתַשׁkâthash · to poundH3806
• a foolאֱוִיל'ĕvîyl · fool(ish)H191
• in a mortarמַכְתֵּשׁmaktêsh · hollowH4388
• amongתָּ֫וֶךְtâvek · midstH8432
• wheatרִיפָהrîyphâh riphâh · grainH7383
• with a pestleעֱלִי‛ĕlîy · pestleH5940
• will not his foolishnessאִוֶּ֫לֶת'ivveleth · follyH200
• departסוּרsûr ώûr · to turn aside: departH5493

Cross-references for Proverbs 27:22

• Proverbs 23:25Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.
• Exodus 12:30And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
• Exodus 14:5When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"
• Exodus 15:9The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.'
• 2 Chronicles 28:22In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz.
• Isaiah 1:5Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
• Jeremiah 5:3O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.
• Jeremiah 44:15Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah:
• Revelation 16:10The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish

Commentaries on Proverbs 27:22

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 22Though thou shouldest bray a fool - Leaving all other conjectures, of which commentators are full, I would propose, that this is a metaphor taken from pounding metallic ores in very large mortars, such as are still common in the East, in order that, when subjected to the action of the fire, the metal may be the more easily separated from the ore. However you may try, by precept or example, or both, to instruct a stupid man, your labor is lost; his…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 22Bray - To pound wheat in a mortar with a pestle, in order to free the wheat from its husks and impurities, is to go through a far more elaborate process than threshing. But the folly of the fool is not thus to be got rid of. It sticks to him to the last; all discipline, teaching, experience seem to be wasted on him.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 22Verse 22 Some are so bad, that even severe methods do not answer the end; what remains but that they should be rejected? The new-creating power of God's grace alone is able to make a change.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 22A fool's character is full of foolishness.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2222. The obstinate wickedness of such is incurable by the heaviest inflictions.Read the comment

Topics related to Proverbs 27:22

• Bray
• Mortar
• Wheat
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Answer
• Boast
• Bray
• Contentious
• Look
• Mortar
• Soul
• Wrath
• Fool; Folly
• Hezekiah (2)

Commentaries on Proverbs 27

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings