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.
• 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.

Context of Proverbs 27:22

20Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied. 21Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised. You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle. 23Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds, 24for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.

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 23:25So give your father and mother joy! May she who gave you birth be happy.
• Exodus 12:30Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died.
• Exodus 14:5When word reached the king of Egypt that the Israelites had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds. “What have we done, letting all those Israelite slaves get away?” they asked.
• Exodus 15:9“The enemy boasted, ‘I will chase them and catch up with them. I will plunder them and consume them. I will flash my sword; my powerful hand will destroy them.’
• 2 Chronicles 28:22Even during this time of trouble, King Ahaz continued to reject the Lord.
• Isaiah 1:5Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick.
• Jeremiah 5:3Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.
• Jeremiah 44:15Then all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to idols—a great crowd of all the Judeans living in northern Egypt and southern Egypt—answered Jeremiah,
• Revelation 16:10Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. His subjects ground their teeth 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