What Does Proverbs 14:16 Mean in the King James?
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
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 fool’s rage grows from a word for crossing over, while the wise person turns aside: one oversteps and feels secure, the other recognizes danger and withdraws.
THE MEANING
The wise person senses the weight of what is harmful and turns away from it; folly heats into overstepping and then settles into a sense of safety. The verse shows how danger and confidence can occupy the same person at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Feeling certain does not prove you are safe; the fool is confident while raging.
THE ROOT
מִתְעַבֵּר
mitʿabbēr
GROWS FROM
עבר
to pass over or cross beyond
The verb rendered “rageth” comes from עָבַר, “to pass over” or “cross.” It gives the fool’s rage the force of overstepping, set against the wise person’s turn away.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: to pass over or cross
עָבַר
This is the verb root beneath “rageth”; its sense of crossing sharpens the contrast with turning aside.
ʿēver: the other side; beyond
עֵבֶר
This related form carries the same across-and-beyond sense that makes the fool’s anger sound like it has gone too far.
סָר
sār
GROWS FROM
סור
to turn aside or depart
“Departeth” is not simply being elsewhere; the root pictures a turning away. Beside the fool who crosses over, the wise person’s defining movement is to turn aside from evil.
ALSO GROWS
sûr: to turn aside or depart
סוּר
This verb preserves the verse’s image of a deliberate change of direction away from evil.
hāsîr: to remove or cause to turn aside
הָסִיר
This form shows the root’s related sense of making something turn away or be removed.
בֹּטֵחַ
bōṭēaḥ
GROWS FROM
בטח
to trust or feel secure
The word for “confident” carries the sense of relying on something and feeling secure. Paired with rage, it shows that a person can overstep while still feeling safe.
ALSO GROWS
mivṭāḥ: a refuge or place of security
מִבְטָח
This noun makes the root’s sense of felt safety concrete.
biṭṭāḥôn: security or trust
בִּטָּחוֹן
This related word names the reliance carried by the fool’s confidence.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom recognizes danger and turns aside, while folly carries a person toward it under a feeling of security.
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.THE THREAD
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.It shares the roots יָרֵא (yārēʾ, “fear”) and סוּר (sûr, “turn aside”) with Proverbs 14:16. Together they show fear as perception that becomes movement away from evil, in contrast with confidence that can keep a person crossing into it.
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