12:15 The way of a fool 1 is right 2 in his own opinion, 3
but the one who listens to advice is wise. 4
12:16 A fool’s annoyance 5 is known at once, 6
but the prudent 7 overlooks 8 an insult.
1 sn The way of a fool describes a headlong course of actions (“way” is an idiom for conduct) that is not abandoned even when wise advice is offered.
2 sn The fool believes that his own plans and ideas are perfect or “right” (יָשָׁר, yashar); he is satisfied with his own opinion.
3 tn Heb “in his own eyes.”
4 tn Or “a wise person listens to advice” (cf. NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
5 tn Heb “The fool, at once his vexation is known.” This rhetorically emphatic construction uses an independent nominative absolute, which is then followed by the formal subject with a suffix. The construction focuses attention on “the fool,” then states what is to be said about him.
6 tn Heb “on the day” or “the same day.”
sn The fool is impatient and unwise, and so flares up immediately when anything bothers him. W. McKane says that the fool’s reaction is “like an injured animal and so his opponent knows that he has been wounded” (Proverbs [OTL], 442).
7 tn Heb “shrewd.”
8 tn Heb “covers.” The verb כָּסָה (casah) means “covers” in the sense of ignores or bides his time. The point is not that he does not respond at all, but that he is shrewd enough to handle the criticism or insult in the best way – not instinctively and irrationally.