Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.
Proverbs is filled with observations about how life tends to work — cause-and-effect patterns that the ancient Israelites identified through long experience and reflection. This verse is blunt about two postures: one that dismisses instruction, correction, or wisdom, and one that takes it seriously. The word translated "scorns" in the original Hebrew is strong — it describes someone who actively despises guidance, not just someone who forgets it. "Pay for it" carries the idea of being bound by a debt you cannot escape. On the other side, the person who respects a command — who honors instruction enough to let it actually shape their behavior — finds that it leads somewhere good.
Lord, keep me from being someone who only pretends to listen. I know I have blind spots I can't see on my own — that's exactly why I need other people, and I need you. Give me the genuine humility to stay teachable, especially when instruction costs me something. Amen.
Nobody enjoys being corrected. That is not a character flaw — it is just human. But there is a significant difference between the momentary sting of honest feedback and the long-term posture of someone who has quietly decided they don't really need it. The Hebrew word behind "scorns" here is strong — it is not forgetting advice or getting distracted. It is actively looking down on instruction, treating it as beneath you. The uncomfortable truth is that most people who do this don't think they do this. It's one of those blind spots that is invisible from the inside. Think about the last time someone offered you honest feedback — a friend who said something you didn't want to hear over dinner, a partner who named a pattern they'd been watching for months, a passage of Scripture that kept circling back to the same uncomfortable place. What did you actually do with it? The reward this proverb describes isn't always immediate or dramatic. But there is a quiet compounding effect to being the kind of person who stays genuinely teachable. It is one of the most underrated forms of wisdom: the ongoing willingness to believe that someone else can see something you can't.
What is the difference between scorning instruction and simply disagreeing with it — how do you tell the difference in yourself?
Think of a time when you received instruction or correction that you initially resisted but later realized was right. What did you learn from that experience?
Why do you think the proverb frames the consequences of scorning instruction so seriously — as a debt that must be paid? What does that tell us about wisdom's role in how life works?
How does your response to correction affect the people around you — your family, your friends, your coworkers? What do they observe about how you handle feedback?
Who in your life is someone whose wisdom and instruction you have not been taking seriously enough — and what would it look like to genuinely listen to them this week?
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Matthew 5:12
Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
Psalms 119:165
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Hebrews 10:29
Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
2 John 1:8
For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isaiah 66:2
Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Malachi 3:16
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Proverbs 1:31
Whoever despises the word and counsel [of God] brings destruction upon himself, But he who [reverently] fears and respects the commandment [of God] will be rewarded.
AMP
Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.
ESV
The one who despises the word will be in debt to it, But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.
NASB
He who scorns instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command is rewarded.
NIV
He who despises the word will be destroyed, But he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.
NKJV
People who despise advice are asking for trouble; those who respect a command will succeed.
NLT
Ignore the Word and suffer; honor God's commands and grow rich.
MSG