What Does Proverbs 15:14 Mean?
The heart of the one with understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools grazes on folly.
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 heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.THE KEY
The discerning heart searches for knowledge, while the fool’s mouth grazes on folly as its food.
THE MEANING
Your discerning heart keeps seeking knowledge. The fool’s mouth feeds on foolishness, so folly is not only what it says but what it continually takes in. The verse sets the heart’s search beside the mouth’s appetite.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that foolish speech is merely a stray utterance: the mouth may be voicing what it keeps feeding on.
THE ROOT
יִרְעֶה
yir’eh
GROWS FROM
רעה
ra’ah
To pasture, graze, or tend a flock.
“grazes on” in this verse is yir’eh. The verb pictures the fool’s mouth grazing on foolishness; it feeds on folly rather than merely letting a foolish word slip out. The same root names both a shepherd and a pasture, giving the mouth an ongoing appetite and a place where it feeds.
ALSO GROWS
ro’eh: A person who pastures and tends a flock.
רֹעֶה
This branch makes the feeding image concrete: the root can describe tending a flock as well as grazing.
mir’eh: A pasture or grazing place.
מִרְעֶה
Folly becomes the pasture on which the fool’s mouth keeps feeding.
דָּעַת
da’at
GROWS FROM
ידע
yada
To know, recognize, or perceive through awareness and encounter.
The heart seeks da’at, knowledge rooted in knowing and perception. The verse’s search reaches toward knowing, not simply collecting information.
ALSO GROWS
yada: To know or recognize.
יָדַע
This verb is the seed behind the knowledge the discerning heart seeks.
madda: Knowledge or understanding.
מַדָּע
This related noun shows the same root moving from the act of knowing to what is known.
נָבוֹן
navon
GROWS FROM
בין
bin
To discern or distinguish.
The heart described here is discerning: it can perceive distinctions and keeps searching for knowledge. The root links understanding with the act of seeing what differs, so the search is guided by discernment.
ALSO GROWS
binah: Understanding that distinguishes and perceives.
בִּינָה
It names the discernment already present in the heart seeking knowledge.
tevunah: Insight or discretion.
תְּבוּנָה
This branch shows discernment extending into insight, the capacity to perceive what is worth seeking.
THE PATTERN
What the inner person seeks becomes its nourishment, and what it feeds on shapes what its mouth produces.
The heart of the discerning takes hold of knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.But his delight is in the instruction of the LORD; and over his instruction he murmurs day and night.A good human brings out good from the good treasure of the heart, and an evil human brings out evil from the evil treasure of the heart, for from the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.THE THREAD
The lips of the aligned shepherd many; but fools die for lack of heart.The same Hebrew root רעה (ra’ah, to pasture or feed) appears in both verses: here the fool’s mouth feeds on folly, while there righteous lips feed many. The root’s echo reveals two directions for the mouth’s appetite: consuming folly or nourishing others.
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