What Does Proverbs 1:26 Mean in the King James?
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse moves from laughter to derision, making the refused warning impossible to mistake once fear arrives.
THE MEANING
Wisdom’s voice addresses you when the crisis once treated as distant is now the thing you fear. Its response is stark: laughter followed by mockery, with no promise that fear will make refused counsel gentle again.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that wisdom can be dismissed now and summoned as comfort on demand when danger arrives.
THE ROOT
אֶשְׂחָק
ʾeśḥaq
GROWS FROM
שׂחק
ś-ḥ-q
to laugh, play, or make sport
“laugh” in this verse is ʾeśḥaq. The first verb belongs to a root that can mean play or make sport as well as laughter. Set beside the distinct verb translated “mock,” the line sharpens from laughter into contempt rather than offering comfort.
ALSO GROWS
śeḥoq: laughter
שְׂחוֹק
Ecclesiastes 2:2 uses this word for laughter; here that familiar sound becomes chilling as calamity arrives.
leśaḥeq: to play
לְשַׂחֶק
Psalm 104:26 uses this form for Leviathan playing in the sea, showing the root’s range beyond laughter.
אֶלְעַג
ʾelʿag
GROWS FROM
לעג
l-ʿ-g
to mock, deride, or speak contemptuously
The English parallel can make “mock” sound like a second way to say “laugh,” but this verb explicitly carries derision. The Hebrew lets the sentence sharpen: first laughter, then contempt, as fear arrives.
ALSO GROWS
laʿag: mockery or scorn
לַעַג
The noun names the contempt behind the action, making the second clause more pointed than a repeated laugh.
loʿeg: one who mocks
לֹעֵג
Proverbs 17:5 uses this form for the person who mocks the poor, showing how this root marks contempt directed at another.
THE PATTERN
A warning refused before crisis can become a closed door once the crisis arrives.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.THE THREAD
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.Psalm 2:4 repeats both verbs used here: one meaning laugh or play, the other mock or deride. The shared wording places Wisdom’s response beside the heavens’ response to defiance, making the laughter read as judgment rather than amusement.
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