Proverbs 14:15
Wisdom tests what it hears, but naivety accepts everything.
15 A simple man believes everything, but the prudent man carefully considers his ways.
Wisdom tests what it hears, but naivety accepts everything.
To contrast the uncritical acceptance of the naive with the careful discernment of the prudent.
Proverbs 14 consists of short contrasts between wisdom and folly that expose how inner posture shows itself in speech, choices, and outcomes. Verse 14 highlights that a person is "filled" with the fruit of his ways, underscoring the moral weight of a chosen path. Verse 15 then focuses on how a person decides what to believe and which direction to take: credulity versus careful reflection. Verse 16 continues the contrast with a wise person's fear and turning from evil versus a fool's reckless confidence. Together, these sayings stress that wisdom is not impulse-driven; it evaluates reality, receives correction, and chooses a guarded path rather than being carried by whatever voice is loudest.
Proverbs presents wisdom instruction that trains the inexperienced to become prudent and to walk a guarded path. The "simple" and the "prudent" are moral categories within wisdom literature that describe how people receive instruction and shape their life-direction.
The Fear of the LORD, the Way That Seems Right, and Wisdom for Household, Speech, and Community
Wisdom fears the LORD, discerns the way of life, builds households, speaks truth, shows kindness to the needy, and rejects the self-deceiving path that seems right but ends in death.