What Does Proverbs 9:13 Mean in the King James?
A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.
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
Folly’s loudness does not testify to knowledge: the verse pairs its noise with an unknowing mind.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now of a loudness that carries no perception: folly is clamorous and simple, with no knowledge to match its sound. Its forceful presence does not make it wise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie it dissolves is that confident volume proves understanding; here the clamorous voice is expressly joined to not knowing.
THE ROOT
הֹמִיָּה
homiyyah
GROWS FROM
המה
hamah
To roar, murmur, or make a tumult.
The word translated “clamorous” grows from the sound of a roar or murmur. Its root makes the verse’s contrast audible: noise fills the space where knowledge is absent.
ALSO GROWS
hamah: To roar, murmur, or be tumultuous.
הָמָה
This verb shows that the woman’s clamor is a kind of tumult, not evidence of insight.
hamon: A multitude, crowd, or tumult.
הָמוֹן
This related word extends the root’s noise into a surrounding mass, showing how clamor can occupy attention without supplying knowledge.
פְּתַיּוּת
pethiyyut
GROWS FROM
פתה
pathah
To be open or naïve; also to entice or persuade.
The root links simplicity with openness and susceptibility, and also gives rise to language of enticement. The verse’s “simple” is therefore more than a lack of information: it describes a state that can be drawn along without discernment.
ALSO GROWS
pethi: A simple or naïve person.
פֶּתִי
This related form names the person marked by the openness in the verse’s description.
pathah: To entice, persuade, or deceive.
פָּתָה
The same root can describe being drawn in, revealing how unguarded simplicity can leave a person susceptible to folly.
יָדְעָה
yada'ah
GROWS FROM
ידע
yada
To know or perceive.
“knoweth” in this verse is yada'ah. The verb for knowing shares its seed with words for knowledge and perception. Set beside the root of clamor, it reveals the verse’s structure: sound is present, but perception is not.
ALSO GROWS
yada: To know or perceive.
יָדַע
This verb is the seed behind “knoweth,” keeping the verse’s lack of knowledge connected to perception.
da'at: Knowledge or perception.
דַּעַת
This noun from the same root gives a name to what the clamorous voice lacks.
THE PATTERN
Speech detached from listening and understanding can grow loud without becoming wise.
In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:THE THREAD
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?Job’s דַּעַת (da’at, “knowledge”) comes from the same root, ידע (yada), as “knoweth” in Proverbs. Proverbs places clamor beside not-knowing; Job shows how words cut off from knowledge can darken counsel.
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