Proverbs 14:9

Fools mock ¹  at reparation, ²  but among the upright there is favor. ³ 

Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.

Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is good will.

Fools make fun of guilt, but the godly acknowledge it and seek reconciliation.

The stupid ridicule right and wrong, but a moral life is a favored life.

In the tents of those hating authority there is error, but in the house of the upright man there is grace.

Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy God’s favor.

Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is favor.

Fools mock ¹  at reparation, ²  but among the upright there is favor. ³ 

¹ tn The noun “fools” is plural but the verb “mock” is singular. This has led some to reverse the line to say “guilty/guilt offering mocks fools” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 287); see, e.g., Isa 1:14; Amos 5:22. But lack of agreement between subject and verb is not an insurmountable difficulty.

² tc The LXX reads “houses of transgressors will owe purification.” Tg. Prov 14:9 has “guilt has its home among fools” (apparently reading לִין לוּן, lin lun).

tn Heb “guilt.” The word אָשָׁם (’asham) has a broad range of meanings: “guilt; reparation.” According to Leviticus, when someone realized he was guilty he would bring a “reparation offering,” a sin offering with an additional tribute for restitution (Lev 5:1-6). It would be left up to the guilty to come forward; it was for the kind of thing that only he would know, for which his conscience would bother him. Fools mock any need or attempt to make things right, to make restitution (cf. NIV, NRSV, NCV, TEV).

³ tn The word רָצוֹן (ratson) means “favor; acceptance; pleasing.” It usually means what is pleasing or acceptable to God. In this passage it either means that the upright try to make amends, or that the upright find favor for doing so.