'Fool' in the Bible

Then Saul said, "I have sinned! Come back, David my son, for I will not harm you again, because my life [was] precious in your eyes this day. Look, I have acted like a fool and {have made a terrible mistake}."

Then Saul said to {his armor bearer}, "Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised do not come and thrust me through and make a fool of me!" But {his armor bearer} [was] not willing [to do so] because he [was] very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.

The king sang a lament for Abner and said, "Should Abner have died the death of a fool?

With the pure, you show yourself pure, but with the crooked, you appear as a fool.

For vexation will slay the fool, and jealousy will kill [the] simple.

I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.

[The] fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who does good.

From all my transgressions deliver me; do not make me [the] taunt of [the] fool.

For he sees [that] the wise die, together [with the] fool and brute they perish, and leave their wealth to the next [generation].

[The] fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt and they have done abominable iniquity. There is none who does good.

[The] brutish man does not know, and [the] fool cannot understand this.

He goes after her suddenly; like an ox to the slaughter he goes, and like a stag to the instruction of a fool,

A heart of wisdom will heed commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

Those who are wise lay up knowledge, but [to] the mouth of the fool, ruin draws near.

He who conceals hatred [has] lips of deceit, and he who utters slander--he is a fool.

[It is] like a sport for a fool to do wrong, wisdom for a person of understanding.

He who brings trouble [to] his household, he will inherit wind, and a fool will serve the wise of heart.

The way of a fool is upright in his [own] eyes, but he who listens to advice [is] wise.

As for a fool, {on that very day} he makes his anger known, but he who ignores an insult [is] prudent.

A clever person conceals knowledge, but the heart of a fool announces folly.

Anyone who is clever will act with intelligence, but the fool will display folly.

In the mouth of a fool is the rod of pride, but the lips of the wise preserve them.

The wise is cautious and turns from evil, but the fool throws off restraint and is confident.

A fool will despise the instruction of his father, but he who guards reproof is prudent.

{Fine speech} [is] not becoming a fool, {still less} [is] {false speech} for a ruler.

A rebuke strikes him who understands deeper than one hundred blows to a fool.

[May] a man meet a she-bear robbed of offspring and not a fool in his folly.

Why [is] this? A price in the hand of a fool, [in order] to buy wisdom where there is no {sense}.

He who begets a fool, [there is] trouble for him; the father of a fool will not rejoice.

He who understands sets [his] face [toward] wisdom, but the eyes of a fool, to the end of the earth.

A grief to his father [is] the child of a fool, and bitterness to her who bore him.

Even a fool who keeps silent {shall be considered wise}; he who closes his lips [is] intelligent.

A fool will not take pleasure in understanding, but in expressing his heart.

The lips of a fool will bring strife, and his mouth calls out for a flogging.

The mouth of a fool [is] ruin to him, and his lips [are] a snare to his soul.

Better a poor person walking in integrity than one who is perverse {in his speech} and is a fool.

For a fool living in luxury is not fitting, [any] more [than it is] for a slave to rule over princes.

[It is] honorable for the man to refrain from strife, but every fool will be quick to quarrel.

In the ears of a fool do not speak, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Like snow in the summer and like rain at the harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.

Do not answer a fool according to his folly lest you become like him--even you.

Answer a fool according to his folly, or else he will be wise in his own eyes.

[Like] cutting off feet [or] drinking violence, so [is] he who sends messages in the hand of a fool.

Like binding a stone in a sling, so [is] giving honor to a fool.

[Like] an archer who wounds everyone, so [is] he who hires a fool or he who hires passersby.

Like a dog returning to his vomit [is] a fool reverting to his folly.

[Do] you see a man wise in his own eyes? [There is more] hope for a fool than for him.

Heavy [is] a stone and weighty [is] sand, but [the] provocation of a fool [is] heavier than both of them.

If you crush a fool in the mortar with the pestle {along with} the crushed grain, it will not drive folly from upon him.

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be saved.

A fool gives all his breath, but [the] wise holds back in quiet.

You see a man who is hasty in his words: [there is more] hope for a fool than him.

under a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is satisfied [with] food;

{The wise man can see where he is walking}, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate.

So I said {to myself}, "{If I also suffer the same fate as the fool}, {what advantage is my great wisdom}?" So I said {to myself}, "This also [is] vanity!"

Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in {future generations}. When [future] days come, both will have been forgotten already. How [is it that] the wise man dies the same as the fool?

{The fool refuses to work with his hands, so he has nothing to eat except his own skin}!

For a dream comes with many cares, and the voice of a fool with many words.

Surely oppression makes a fool of the wise, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

Do not act excessively wicked, and do not be a fool, lest you die before your time.

The heart of the wise [inclines] to his right, but the heart of the fool [inclines] to his left.

Even when the fool walks along the road, he lacks sense; he tells everyone [that] he is a fool.

The fool is set in many high places, but the rich sit in lowly places.

The wise man [wins] favor by the words of his mouth, but the fool is devoured by his own lips.

The fool {talks too much}, for no one knows what will be. Who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future}?

The fool is so worn out by a hard day's work {he cannot even find his way home at night}.

A fool will no longer be called noble, and a scoundrel will not be said [to be] eminent.

For a fool speaks folly, and his {mind} does iniquity: to {behave wickedly}, and to speak error concerning Yahweh, to leave [the] throat of [the] hungry empty, and he deprives [the] thirsty [of] drink.

who frustrates [the] signs of oracle priests and makes a fool of diviners, who drives [the] wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

[Like] a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay [is] one who amasses wealth without justice. In the middle of his days it will leave him, and at his end he will [prove to] be a fool."

The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come; Israel knows! The prophet [is] a fool, the man of the spirit [is] acting like a madman. Because of the greatness of your sin, [your] hostility [is] great.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry at his brother will be subject to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Stupid fool!' will be subject to the council, and whoever says, 'Obstinate fool!' will be subject to fiery hell.

But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your life is demanded from you, and [the things] which you have prepared--whose will they be?'

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks [himself] to be wise among you in this age, let him become a fool, in order that he may become wise.

I have become a fool! You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you, for [I am] in no way inferior to the preeminent apostles, even if I am nothing.