Open in the app
Mid-century illustration of a tree planted by a pool of water on a path

Proverbs 9:7 · World English Bible

Proverbs 9:7 Meaning One Who Corrects a Mocker Invites Insult

One who corrects a mocker invites insult. One who reproves a wicked man invites abuse.

Read it in the app

What does Proverbs 9:7 mean?

When one mind moves to correct another by attack, it does not heal; it only trades in the guilt it means to expose. The scorner and the wicked man are not people set apart from the one who judges them.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 9:7 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

When one mind moves to correct another by attack, it does not heal; it only trades in the guilt it means to expose. The scorner and the wicked man are not people set apart from the one who judges them. They are the parts of a single mind, and to strike at guilt with more judgment is to bind the guilt tighter, staining the one who wields it. What is met with condemnation can only defend itself.

This is why correction that comes from love looks so different. It does not accuse. It overlooks the error entirely and sees the innocence beneath, and only that seeing sets both minds free.

Scorner: the part of the mind that has hardened against love, the projected guilt that meets correction with contempt Wicked man: the self the mind has judged and cast out, the disowned guilt that cannot be healed by attack

Christian Psychology lensGo deeper in the app

Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 9:7 today

  1. Before you send the message you have been drafting in your head all morning, read it once and ask whether it is meant to help or to land a hit. If it is a hit, write a different one.
  2. When someone close to you messes up today, say the thing without the edge. Skip the part where you remind them of the last three times.
  3. In the group chat or the meeting where someone is getting piled on, be the one who does not add to it. Silence counts, and so does one sentence that assumes they meant well.

When I correct someone, am I trying to free them or to prove something?

The same truth in other traditions

Tao Te Ching 43

The softest thing in the world moves through the hardest. Force meets force and stops. Gentleness passes right through where pressure never could.

Buddhism · Dhammapada 1

Hatred is never ended by hatred. It is ended only by love. Striking at someone's fault with another strike simply keeps the whole thing going.

Sufism · Rumi

Rumi wrote that a wound is where the light enters. Pointing at someone's wound to shame them seals it shut. Seeing them whole is what lets it open.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

Free · No account needed

Read all of Proverbs 9 through 17 lenses

Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.

Get Lensightful on the App Store