Proverbs 17:16

Of what ¹  use is money in the hand of a fool, ²  since he has no intention ³  of acquiring wisdom? ⁴ 

De 5:29; Ps 81:11-13; Pr 1:22,23; Pr 8:4,5; Pr 9:4-6; Pr 14:6; Pr 18:15; Pr 21:25,26; Isa 55:1-3; Ho 4:11; Joh 3:20; Ac 13:46; Ac 28:26,27; 2Co 6:1

¹ tn Heb “why this?” The term זֶּה (zeh) is an enclitic use of the demonstrative pronoun for emphasis: “why ever” would this happen?

² sn The sense seems to be “What good is money” since what the fool needs cannot be bought? The verse is a rhetorical question stating that money would be wasted on a fool.

³ tn Heb “there is no heart”; NASB “he has no (+ common TEV) sense”; NLT “has no heart for wisdom.”

⁴ sn W. McKane envisions a situation where the fool comes to a sage with a fee in hand, supposing that he can acquire a career as a sage, and this gives rise to the biting comment here: Why does the fool have money in his hands? To buy wisdom when he has no brains? (Proverbs [OTL], 505).