“The vexation of a fool is known at once” is literally “A fool’s anger is known in a day.” For “fool” see the comments on 1.7. “Vexation”, as in Job 5.2, means “anger,” “passion,” or “resentment.” “Vexation” is here particularly anger that is provoked by someone. “In a day” is taken by Revised Standard Version to mean “at once”. See Good News Translation “quickly.” The thought in line 1 is that it is unwise to react angrily too suddenly. A translation that expresses this thought is: “Silly people get hot in the heart quickly against anyone who does something to them.”

“But the prudent man ignores an insult”: This line is literally “but the clever person covers shame.” “Prudent man” (New Revised Standard Version “the prudent”) renders a noun used in Gen 3.1 of the clever or crafty serpent, but in Proverbs the same term is used in the good sense of being sensible, knowing the wise way to react. “Ignores”, which renders the Hebrew “covers,” means to disregard or pay no attention to. “Insult” renders a word meaning dishonor or humiliation. This line observes that the sensible person takes no notice of insults or remains calm in the face of personal offenses.

Bible en français courant translates the whole verse, “The fool lets his anger show immediately, but the intelligent person conceals his resentment.”

We may also say, for example, “If you are stupid, people will quickly see when you are angry; but if you are smart, you will not let your anger show.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .