Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

$5.00

Consider the Consequences

Proverbs 15:10 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
¹⁰There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way;
he who hates reproof will die.

There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way. “There is” is supplied by UASV. Severe renders a Hebrew word (רַע ra) that generally means “bad” or “evil.” Here, pertaining to discipline (מוּסָר musar) it means very bad in degree or extent, as in “uncomfortable,” or “agonizing,” “tough,” or “brutal.” Him who forsakes the way (לְעֹזֵב אֹרַח leozeb) to get off the path or way of wisdom, knowledge, or righteousness, which can convey a suggestion of finality or completeness.

Discipline (מוּסָר musar) is repeatedly mentioned throughout the book of Proverbs. In the Scriptures, discipline often carries the sense of correction, admonition, rebuke, or chastisement. It is the practice or methods of teaching and enforcing acceptable patterns of behavior: correction, admonition, or modification, whether it is self-discipline or the discipline of another. According to The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, it “denotes the training of the moral nature, involving the correcting of waywardness toward folly.” (Garland and Longman 2008, 48) Do we need this training? Whether we are disciplining ourselves or are being disciplined by another, by grasping the counsel within the Scriptures and then applying it in our lives, it moves us to become a better servant of God. If we are to move over from inherited death to life, we require discipline. – Prov. 1:3; 3:11; 5:12.

He who hates reproof will die. Here, hates (שָׂנֵא sane) means to dislike intensely, to feel antipathy towards, to abhor, detest, loathe, be hostile, have a feeling of open hostility and intense dislike. Reproof: (תּוֹכַחַת tokachath) has the sense of an act or expression of criticism or disapproval, even condemnation. It is speaking strong words of disapproval, which may also include punishment. (Prov. 1:23, 25, 30; 3:11; 5:12; 6:23; 10:17; 12:1; 13:18; 15:5, 10, 31, 32; 27:5; 29:1, 15) Will die is parallel to severe discipline, but the punishment is much more severe.

How do those, who forsake the way to life, view reproof, and what looms toward them? Instead of recognizing the corrective counsel in the Word of God and then turning away from their wicked course, some who are pursuing a wrong course choose to abandon the way or path of righteousness. These ones are very foolish, indeed. An American Translation puts the proverb this way: “Stern discipline awaits the man who leaves the right way; he who hates admonition will die.” The Good New Translation reads, “If you do what is wrong, you will be severely punished; you will die if you do not let yourself be corrected.”