Fool

Occurrences in Scripture

The term appears most often in Proverbs.

• Proverbs 1:7 states, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge," and then adds that "fools despise wisdom and instruction."
• Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes."
• Proverbs 26:11 contains the image of a dog returning to its vomit, a verse quoted in 2 Peter 2:22.

In Korean Bibles, Ecclesiastes usually refers to the same kind of person as umaeja ("the foolish one"). Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1 declare, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." The name of Nabal in 1 Samuel 25 itself means "fool." His wife, Abigail, describes her husband to David in exactly these terms: "as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him" (1 Samuel 25:25).

In the New Testament, Jesus calls three figures foolish:

• The man who built his house upon the sand (Matthew 7:26; see House on the Rock)
• The five virgins who did not prepare oil (Matthew 25:2; see Parable of the Ten Virgins)
• The rich man who kept enlarging his barns (Luke 12:20; see Parable of the Rich Fool)

Paul states that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).

Meaning of the Terms

Hebrew has several words with this meaning:

• Kesil: The most frequent term in Proverbs.
• Ewil: Commonly explained as a stubborn person who will not accept correction.
• Nabal: Understood to convey a hardened obstinacy that holds God and neighbor in contempt.

New Testament Greek uses terms such as moros, aphron, and anoetos. The New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong) renders these words variously as mireonhan ja, eoriseogeun ja, and umaeja, but the original-language terms and the Korean renderings do not correspond one to one.

In every case, the foolishness of which Scripture speaks does not mean low intelligence. It refers to an attitude that does not fear God and rejects instruction. In wisdom literature, the fool is a character type set in opposition to the wise.

Significance Across Scripture

If in Proverbs the starting point of wisdom is the fear of the LORD (Proverbs 9:10), then the root of folly lies in disregarding God.

The New Testament inherits this contrast while also overturning the world's standards. Paul says:

• "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:22).
• "The foolishness of God is wiser than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25).
• He himself is regarded as a fool: "We are fools for Christ's sake" (1 Corinthians 4:10).

In other words, what separates wisdom from folly is not the world's assessment but one's posture before God.

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• "There is no God" in Psalm 14:1: Many commentators regard this as a practical attitude rather than theoretical atheism—a way of living as though God neither sees nor judges.
• Proverbs 26:4-5: A verse instructing the reader not to answer a fool according to his folly stands side by side with one instructing the reader to answer him. Interpreters generally do not regard this as a contradiction but read it as a call to discern what the circumstances require.
• Matthew 5:22: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that "whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." Yet in Matthew 23:17 he calls the Pharisees "fools and blind." The common explanation is that the former refers to an insult arising from anger and contempt, while the latter is a judgment upon wrongdoing.

In the Korean Church

The New Korean Revised Version's rendering of 1 Corinthians 1:21, "by the foolishness of preaching" (jeondoui mireonhan geoseuro), is frequently cited in discussions of the meaning of evangelism and preaching.