Proverbs 22:15

Folly is bound up ¹  in the heart of a child, ²  but the rod of discipline ³  will drive it far from him.

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.

A youngster’s heart is filled with foolishness, but discipline will drive it away.

Young people are prone to foolishness and fads; the cure comes through tough-minded discipline.

Foolish ways are deep-seated in the heart of a child, but the rod of punishment will send them far from him.

Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy, but the rod of discipline drives it far away.

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.

Folly is bound up ¹  in the heart of a child, ²  but the rod of discipline ³  will drive it far from him.

¹ sn The passive participle is figurative (implied comparison with “binding”); it means that folly forms part of a child’s nature (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 238).

² tn The “heart of a child” (לֶב־נָעַר, lev-na’ar) refers here to the natural inclination of a child to foolishness. The younger child is meant in this context, but the word can include youth. R. N. Whybray suggests that this idea might be described as a doctrine of “original folly” (Proverbs [CBC], 125). Cf. TEV “Children just naturally do silly, careless things.”

³ tn The word “rod” is a metonymy of adjunct; it represents physical chastening for direction or punishment, to suppress folly and develop potential. The genitive (“discipline”) may be taken as an attributive genitive (“a chastening rod”) or an objective genitive, (“a rod [= punishment] that brings about correction/discipline”).