What does אִוֶּלֶת mean in the Bible?
Iwwellet names folly or foolish conduct, especially where judgment, speech and response to instruction go wrong. Proverbs calls an answer given before listening folly and disgrace.
Hebrew · H200
אִוֶּלֶת
Iwwellet names folly or foolish conduct, especially where judgment, speech and response to instruction go wrong. Proverbs calls an answer given before listening folly and disgrace.
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אִוֶּלֶתH200
What does אִוֶּלֶת mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for אִוֶּלֶת (H200) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H200?
The BSB source-word alignment has 25 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include folly (6), [is] folly (2), according to his folly (2), [but] the effort (1), [his] folly (1).
Where does אִוֶּלֶת appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Psalms 38:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (23), Psalms (2).
What This Word Actually Means
Iwwellet names folly or foolish conduct, especially where judgment, speech and response to instruction go wrong. Proverbs calls an answer given before listening folly and disgrace. It also describes a person whose own folly subverts the way, yet whose heart then rages against the Lord. The paired sayings in Proverbs 26 warn both against answering in a way that becomes like the folly and against leaving the fool wise in his own eyes.
They require discernment about the response rather than one rule for every encounter. Proverbs 27's grinding image observes that force cannot remove entrenched folly; it is not an instruction to harm anyone. Psalm 69 brings the noun into personal confession while the speaker also laments unjust hatred. The range distinguishes acknowledging one's own wrong from accepting every accusation.
Responsible teaching can encourage hearing, wise engagement and repair without prescribing violence, humiliation or blaming every sufferer for their circumstances.
How the Bible Uses It
Selected folly witnesses concern premature answers, self-subversion and blame, two different response dangers, the limits of force and honest confession within a lament about injustice.
- Prov.18.13
He who answers a matter before he hears it—this is folly and disgrace to him.
Answering before hearing is identified as folly and disgrace to the speaker, directing attention to a preventable failure of listening.
- Prov.19.3
A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the Lord.
The person's own folly subverts the way, yet anger is directed at the Lord; the saying exposes this misplaced blame.
- Prov.26.4
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.
One response risks making the answerer like the folly, so engagement must not reproduce the wrongdoing it addresses.
- Prov.26.5
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.
The adjacent response warning concerns leaving the fool wise in his own eyes; it prevents turning silence into a universal rule.
- Prov.27.22
Though you grind a fool like grain with mortar and a pestle, yet his folly will not depart from him.
The mortar-and-pestle image says grinding cannot remove folly, a warning about force's inability rather than an instruction to inflict harm.
- Ps.69.5
You know my folly, O God, and my guilt is not hidden from You.
The speaker confesses folly known to God while the wider lament also protests unjust hatred and suffering; confession does not validate every accusation.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itfolly6×Proverbs 5:23, Proverbs 14:18, Proverbs 14:29, Proverbs 15:2
[is] folly2×Proverbs 14:24, Proverbs 18:13
according to his folly2×Proverbs 26:4, Proverbs 26:5
[but] the effort1×Proverbs 14:24
[his] folly1×Proverbs 13:16
[yet] his folly1×Proverbs 27:22
A foolish1×Proverbs 24:9
but a foolish one1×Proverbs 14:1
but the folly1×Proverbs 14:8
foolishly1×Proverbs 14:17
Foolishness1×Proverbs 22:15
his folly1×Proverbs 26:11
in his folly1×Proverbs 17:12
is folly1×Proverbs 16:22
its folly1×Proverbs 12:23
my folly1×Psalms 69:5
my sinful folly1×Psalms 38:5
own folly1×Proverbs 19:3
Show sample aligned rows
Psalms 38:5אִוַּלְתִּֽי׃tomy sinful follyNoun - feminine singular construct | first person common singularPsalms 69:5לְאִוַּלְתִּ֑יtomy follyPreposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singularProverbs 5:23אִוַּלְתּ֣וֹtofollyNoun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singularProverbs 12:23אִוֶּֽלֶת׃toits follyNoun - feminine singularProverbs 13:16אִוֶּֽלֶת׃to[his] follyNoun - feminine singularProverbs 14:1וְ֝אִוֶּ֗לֶתtobut a foolish oneConjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singularProverbs 14:8וְאִוֶּ֖לֶתtobut the follyConjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular constructProverbs 14:17אִוֶּ֑לֶתtofoolishlyNoun - feminine singularProverbs 14:18אִוֶּ֑לֶתtofollyNoun - feminine singularProverbs 14:24אִוֶּ֖לֶתto[but] the effortNoun - feminine singular construct
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowPsalms 38:5
Aligned rows25
Books represented2
Psalms2Proverbs23
Source forms
אִוֶּֽלֶת׃7x’iw·we·leṯProverbs 12:23, Proverbs 13:16, Proverbs 14:24, Proverbs 14:29
אִוֶּ֑לֶת2x’iw·we·leṯProverbs 14:17, Proverbs 14:18
אִ֭וֶּלֶת2x’iw·we·leṯProverbs 15:21, Proverbs 22:15
אִוֶּ֣לֶת2x’iw·we·leṯProverbs 19:3, Proverbs 24:9
כְּאִוַּלְתּ֑וֹ2xkə·’iw·wal·tōwProverbs 26:4, Proverbs 26:5
אִוֶּ֖לֶת1x’iw·we·leṯProverbs 14:24
אִוֶּ֥לֶת1x’iw·we·leṯProverbs 18:13
אִוַּלְתּ֣וֹ1x’iw·wal·tōwProverbs 5:23
Parsing patterns
Noun - feminine singular13xProverbs 12:23, Proverbs 13:16, Proverbs 14:17, Proverbs 14:18
Noun - feminine singular construct2xProverbs 14:24, Proverbs 19:3
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular2xProverbs 5:23, Proverbs 27:22
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular2xProverbs 17:12, Proverbs 26:11
Preposition-k | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular2xProverbs 26:4, Proverbs 26:5
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular1xProverbs 14:1
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct1xProverbs 14:8
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular1xPsalms 38:5
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Choose responses that serve understanding and protection rather than winning a humiliating contest.
- Allow a person to confess their own wrong while maintaining truthful boundaries against imposed blame.
Avoid claiming...
- Violence or humiliation cannot be prescribed as the biblical cure for folly.
- The noun does not explain every loss or prove that all suffering is self-caused.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. silliness
Source Gloss
silliness
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
silliness BDB: folly Usage: folly, foolishly(-ness).
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
אִוֶּלֶת is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Proverbs 18:13 locates folly in a specific moment: someone answers before hearing. A corrective response can begin by listening carefully rather than searching for a person to shame. Proverbs 19:3 exposes another failure when self-subversion is followed by rage against the Lord. That saying does not establish that every calamity comes from personal foolishness.
Proverbs 26 places its two response dangers side by side. An answer may imitate the folly; silence may leave false self-certainty untouched. Discernment therefore asks what a response will do, who might be harmed and whether the exchange can serve truth. Proverbs 27 depicts grinding a fool without removing folly. Its severe image cannot authorize violence or turn humiliation into wisdom.
Psalm 69 adds confession within unjust suffering: the speaker acknowledges guilt before God and still names wrongful hatred. Teachers should permit both truthful self-examination and refusal of false blame, making repair concrete without treating shame, force or silence as a guaranteed cure.
Anchor passage
Prov.18.13
Doctrinal connections
- Proverbs names premature answering as a failure requiring careful listening.
- Misplaced blame toward the Lord follows self-subversion in Proverbs 19.
- Proverbs 26 warns against reproducing folly through the answer itself.
- Its adjacent saying also challenges the fool's uncorrected self-certainty.
- Psalm 69 addresses God with confession amid appeals against injustice.
- The grinding image exposes force's limits rather than commanding violent repair.
This feminine noun appears in absolute and construct forms, including possessive expressions for a person's folly. It names the foolishness or conduct rather than functioning identically to the related word describing a fool.
From Old to New Testament
James 3:13-18 tests wisdom through good conduct, gentleness, peace and willingness to yield rather than boastful rivalry. This comparison helps assess a response to folly without turning the paired Proverbs sayings into either compulsory debate or an excuse to ignore preventable harm.