12:16

Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:

16a
A fool’s anger is known at once,

16b but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

12:16a

A fool’s anger is known at once: There is a textual issue here:

(1) The LXX has “a fool quickly/immediately makes known his irritation/anger.” This indicates that when a fool becomes angry, irritated or annoyed, he quickly/immediately shows or expresses his feelings to other people. For example:

Fools show their anger at once (New Revised Standard Version)

(2) The MT has “the irritation/anger of a fool is quickly/immediately known.” This indicates that when a fool becomes angry, irritated or annoyed, his feelings are quickly/immediately known or evident to other people. For example:

The vexation of a fool is known at once (English Standard Version)

The difference between these options is slight. With both options, other people recognize the fool’s emotions. It is recommended that you follow option (1), along with most versions. Some other ways to translate this line are:

When a stubborn fool is irritated, he shows it immediately (God’s Word)
-or-
Fools quickly show that they are upset (New Century Version)

A fool’s anger: In Hebrew, the word order of this line connects the subject A fool’s anger with the “fool” (same Hebrew word) in 12:15a. One way to express this connection is:

As for the fool, he shows his annoyance at once

anger: In this context, the word anger refers to vexation, irritation, or annoyance. In 17:25, the same Hebrew word refers to grief.

12:16b

but a prudent man overlooks an insult: In Hebrew, this line is more literally “but one who covers shame is prudent.” There are two main ways to interpret this line:

(1) The verb “covers” means “overlooks” or “ignores.” The word “shame” refers to another person’s insult. For example:

but the prudent ignore an insult (New Revised Standard Version)

(2) The verb “covers” means “conceals.” The word “shame” refers to a person’s own feelings of either humiliation or irritation caused by an insult. For example:

but a clever man conceals his humiliation (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)

With either interpretation, the prudent person does not show any reaction to the insult. It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with most versions. Another way to translate this line is:

but people who are sensible pay no attention when they are insulted

a prudent man: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a prudent man refers here to someone who is sensible. He is clever enough to control his own response when he is insulted. A different form of the same word occurs in 1:4a, where the Berean Standard Bible translates it as “prudence.” Some other ways to translate this are:

a clever person (Revised English Bible)
-or-
the shrewd man (New American Bible)
-or-
a sensible person (God’s Word)

© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.