Proverbs 9:12
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself,.... He is wise that harkens to Wisdom's advice, that obeys her call, turns in to her house, and becomes her guest; and such an one is wise for himself, it is for his own good, profit, and advantage; for the good of his soul, for his present peace and comfort, and for his future bliss and happiness. It is not for her own sake that Wisdom presses her exhortations, and is so urgent on men to take her counsel and advice; it is for their own good; their wisdom is not profitable to her, but to themselves; they, and they only, reap the advantage and usefulness of it; see Job 22:2. The Syriac and Arabic versions add, "and unto thy friends"; and the Septuagint version is, "if thou becomest wise to thyself, thou wilt be wise to neighbours"; they will receive some profit by it;
but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it; the evil, as the Vulgate Latin; the sin of scorning, and the punishment due unto it; it will bring no real hurt to Wisdom, or Christ, nor to his ministers, nor to his Gospel and ordinances, scoffed at; all the hurt will redound to the scoffer himself; and he alone shall bear it, and feel the smart of it, and all the dreadful consequences following upon it. The Septuagint version here adds the following clause,
"he that trusteth in lies, he feedeth on winds; the same pursues birds flying; for he forsakes the ways of his own vineyard; he wanders from the paths of his own husbandry; he passes through a desert without water, and a land destined to thirst, and he gathers unfruitfulness with his hands;''
and which are retained in the Syriac and Arabic version, but are not in the Hebrew text.