Bible Strands
Proverbs 1:32
For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The passage concludes a wisdom discourse, positioned between a declaration that people will consume the consequences of their own choices (1:31) and a promise of safety for those who heed wisdom (1:33).
The words — מְשׁוּבַת (me.shu.Vat) translates as waywardness, and תְּאַבְּדֵם (te.'a.be.Dem) translates as it will destroy them.
The thread — This cause-and-effect pattern of self-inflicted ruin appears in Proverbs 8:36, Jeremiah 2:19, and John 3:36, where the text describes how rejecting wisdom or the Son produces self-harm or divine wrath.
Why it lands — The text states that personal complacency and wayward conduct produce inevitable destruction, and it asks the reader to recognize that self-directed choices, not external forces, determine the outcome.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 8:36 But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
- Jeremiah 2:19 Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- Luke 16:19 Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
- Hebrews 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- Psalms 69:22 May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.
- Jeremiah 48:11 Moab has been at ease from youth, settled like wine on its dregs; he has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile. So his flavor has remained the same, and his aroma is unchanged.
- Luke 12:16 Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance.
- Hebrews 12:8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.