What Does Proverbs 14:15 Mean?
The open one leans his weight on every word, but the shrewd one discerns his step.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.THE KEY
The simple person is open to every word; the prudent person sees where a word leads before taking the next step.
THE MEANING
Words reach you with claims that invite trust, but wisdom sees beyond the claim to the path it opens. Discernment attends to where each step is going, not only to what sounds convincing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being open-minded means accepting every claim at face value.
THE ROOT
פֶּתִי
pethî
GROWS FROM
פתה
p-t-h
To be open or susceptible; the root can also mean to entice or persuade.
The simple person is pictured as open to influence, so every word can enter without being weighed. The verse’s contrast is not closedness versus openness, but unguarded receptivity versus discernment.
ALSO GROWS
pathah: To draw someone in or persuade them.
פָּתָה
It shows how a word can do more than inform: it can pull the open person toward a path.
pethî: A person who is readily persuaded.
פְּתִי
This is the verse’s word for someone who gives every word credence.
יַאֲמִין
ya’amin
GROWS FROM
אמן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm, reliable, or trustworthy.
“leans his weight on” in this verse is ya’amin. The verb for believing grows from the language of firmness and reliability. The simple person treats every word as though it were steady ground, while the verse leaves room to ask whether the word can bear that weight.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Reliance grounded in firmness or reliability.
אֱמוּנָה
It links trust with what can actually be leaned on.
amen: An affirmation of what is firm or reliable.
אָמֵן
Its familiar assent echoes the question beneath the verse: what deserves a settled yes?
יָבִין
yāvin
GROWS FROM
בין
b-y-n
To distinguish, discern, or understand.
“looketh well” in this verse is yāvin. The prudent person’s wisdom is expressed as discernment: seeing what lies between a word and its consequence. The phrase turns attention from the claim alone to the direction of one’s steps.
ALSO GROWS
binah: The capacity to distinguish and understand.
בִּינָה
It names the kind of perception behind looking carefully at one’s going.
bein: A word for what lies between things.
בֵּין
Its sound and form echo discernment as the seeing of distinctions rather than taking every word as equal.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom tests words by discerning the path they open before moving forward.
The shrewd one sees evil and hides himself; the open ones cross over and are punished.Beloved, do not lean your weight on every breath, but test the breaths, whether they come out of God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.Test everything, and hold fast to what is good.THE THREAD
The shrewd one sees evil and hides himself; the open ones cross over and are punished.The Hebrew repeats the same words for “prudent” (עָרוּם, ʿārûm) and “simple” (פֶּתִי, pethî) in both verses. Here the contrast sharpens: the prudent sees where a path leads, while the simple passes on as though every word were safe to follow.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us