Bible Strands
Proverbs 17:10
A rebuke cuts into a man of discernment deeper than a hundred lashes cut into a fool.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wisdom teacher addresses a general reader within a collection of practical maxims, positioning this verse between instructions on concealing offenses and a warning about the fate of the rebellious.
The words — The Hebrew גְּעָרָ֣ה (ge.'a.Rah) translates as a rebuke, while תֵּ֣חַת (Te.chat) indicates that it goes deep or penetrates profoundly.
The thread — The text's emphasis on correction appears in Proverbs 9:8, which contrasts the mocker's hatred with the wise man's love for rebuke, and in Psalms 141:5, where the psalmist welcomes righteous correction as devotion. It also aligns with Revelation 3:19, where the speaker declares that those He loves He rebukes and disciplines.
Why it lands — The text states that verbal correction produces greater internal change in a discerning person than physical punishment does in a fool, and it demands that readers actively receive rebuke rather than resist it.
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
A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
Cross-references
- Revelation 3:19 Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
- Proverbs 9:8 Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
- Psalms 141:5 Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.
- Proverbs 13:1 A wise son heeds his father’s discipline, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke.
- Proverbs 15:5 A fool rejects his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction is prudent.
- Proverbs 19:25 Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware; rebuke the discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.
- Proverbs 27:22 Though you grind a fool like grain with mortar and a pestle, yet his folly will not depart from him.
- Proverbs 29:19 A servant cannot be corrected by words alone; though he understands, he will not respond.