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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him.
• 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

20Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes. 21The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are tested by their praise. Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them. 23Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; 24for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for 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 23:25May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!
• Exodus 12:30Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
• Exodus 14:5When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!”
• Exodus 15:9The enemy boasted, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.’
• 2 Chronicles 28:22In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord.
• Isaiah 1:5Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.
• Jeremiah 5:3Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
• Jeremiah 44:15Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to 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 agony

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