The childish shall possess folly, and the prudent, shall look for knowledge.

The simple have inherited folly, And the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Foolish behaviour is the heritage of the simple, but men of good sense are crowned with knowledge.

The thoughtless come into possession of folly; But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

The childish will possess foolishness, and the discerning will anticipate knowledge.

Crowned - The teacher anticipates the truth, and the paradox, of the Stoic saying, "The wise is the only king."

The simple inherit folly,.... It is natural and hereditary to them, they are born like wild asses colts; the foolish sayings and proverbs, customs and practices, of their ancestors, though they have been demonstrated to be mere folly, yet these, their posterity, approve them; they love, like, and retain them as their patrimony, Job 11:12. Such are the foolish traditions, customs, principles, and doctrines, of the church of Rome, handed down from father to son; and because Popery is the religion they have been bred and brought up in, though so foolish and absurd, they will not relinquish it;
but the prudent are crowned with knowledge; natural, civil, and spiritual, especially the latter; evangelical knowledge, the knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ, and of Gospel truths; they are honoured with an acquaintance with them; and they esteem the knowledge of these above all things else, and reckon all things else but loss and dung in comparison of them; they are as a crown unto them, and the knowledge of them is the way to the crown of life; yea, is itself life eternal, Philippians 3:8. Or, they "crown themselves with knowledge" (p); they labour after it, pursue it with eagerness, follow on to know the Lord, and attain to a large share of it; surround, encompass, and lay hold upon it, and gird themselves about with this girdle of truth. Or, "they crown knowledge" (q); do honour to that, by putting it in practice; by adding to it temperance, and every virtue, and by bringing others to it; and are an ornament to it in their lives and conversation; they adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour.
(p) "imponent coronam sibi scientiam", Montanus; "coronant se scientia", Piscator, so Ben Melech. (q) "Coronabunt scientiam", Baynus; "ornant scientiam", Drusius.

Sin is the shame of sinners; but wisdom is the honour of the wise.

inherit--as a portion (compare Proverbs 3:35).
are crowned--literally, "are surrounded with it," abound in it.

18 The simple have obtained folly as an inheritance;
But the prudent put on knowledge as a crown.
As a parallel word to נחלוּ, יכתּרוּ (after the Masora defective), also in the sense of Arab. âkthar, multiplicare, abundare (from Arab. kathura, to be much, perhaps
(Note: According to rule the Hebr. ש becomes in Arab. ṯ, as in Aram. ת; but kthar might be from ktar, an old verb rarely found, which derivata with the idea of encircling (wall) and of rounding (bunch) point to.)
properly comprehensive, encompassing), would be appropriate, but it is a word properly Arabic. On the other hand, inappropriate is the meaning of the Hebrews.-Aram. כּתּר, to wait (properly waiting to surround, to go round any one, cf. manere aliquem or aliquod), according to which Aquila, ἀναμενούσιν, and Jerome, expectabunt. Also הכתּיר, to encompass in the sense of to embrace (lxx κρατήσουσιν), does not suffice, since in the relation to נחלו one expects an idea surpassing this. Certainly there is a heightening of the idea in this, that the Hiph. in contradistinction to נחל would denote an object of desire spontaneously sought for. But far stronger and more pointed is the heightening of the idea when we take יכתרו as the denom. of כּרת (Gr. κίταρις, κίδαρις, Babyl. כדר, cudur, cf. כּדּוּר, a rounding, sphaera). Thus Theodotion, στεφθήσονται. The Venet. better actively, ἐστέψαντο (after Kimchi: ישׂימו הדעת ככתר על ראשם), the Targ., Jerome, Luther (but not the Syr., which translates נחלו by "to inherit," but יכתרו by μεριοῦνται, which the lxx has for נחלו). The bibl. language has also (Ps. 142:8) הכתיר in the denom. signification of to place a crown, and that on oneself; the non-bibl. has מכתיר (like the bibl. מעטיר) in the sense of distributor of crowns,
(Note: Vid., Wissenschaft, Kunst, Judenthum (1838), p. 240.)
and is fond of the metaphor כתר הדעת, crown of knowledge. With those not self-dependent (vid., regarding the plur. form of פּתי, p. 56), who are swayed by the first influence, the issue is, without their willing it, that they become habitual fools: folly is their possession, i.e., their property. The prudent, on the contrary, as Proverbs 14:15 designates them, have thoughtfully to ponder their step to gain knowledge as a crown (cf. העשׁיר, to gain riches, הפריח, 11b, to gain flowers, Gesen. 53, 2). Knowledge is to them not merely an inheritance, but a possession won, and as such remains with them a high and as it were a kingly ornament.

Inherit - They possess it as their inheritance, holding it fast, and glorying in it. Knowledge - The saving knowledge of God and of their own duty.