“Leave the presence of a fool”: This line is clearly expressed as a command, “Go away from. . .,” “Stay away from. . ..” The person to be avoided is called “a foolish man” or “a man of foolishness.” As the next line indicates, the idea is that the foolish, stupid person has no knowledge to impart to others and so should be avoided. Some translators express “fool” in the plural. See Good News Translation.

“For there you do not meet words of knowledge” is literally “or you will not know the lips of knowledge.” Some interpreters think “lips of knowledge” is obscure and so modify the Hebrew; for example, Scott translates “And do not lavish wise words [on him].” Others prefer the Hebrew text as it stands; for example, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “Keep away from a fool, because you will obtain no knowledge from his lips.” Contemporary English Version has “Stay away from fools, or you won’t learn a thing.” We recommend that translators follow the Hebrew text, as these models and most other versions do.

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 .