“For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them.”
Verse 32 continues the explanation of the consequences of rejecting Wisdom. The verse identifies two characteristics that ultimately lead to destruction: the waywardness of the naive and the complacency of fools. The naive were first introduced in verse 4 as those who could gain prudence through the instruction of Proverbs. Here, we see what happens when they refuse that instruction. Their waywardness, or tendency to wander from the proper path, ultimately leads to their destruction. This connects with the imagery of the two paths introduced earlier in the chapter. The naive are susceptible to the enticement of sinners because they lack the discernment necessary to recognize where the path of sin leads. Without Wisdom’s guidance, they are easily led astray.
The second half of the verse addresses the complacency of fools. Complacency is a sense of comfort or security that causes a person to become careless about the dangers surrounding them. The fool may believe that everything is going well and that there is no need to change his behavior. This attitude is dangerous because it allows foolishness to continue unchecked. There is a contrast between the naive and the fool. The naive wander or stray from the proper path, presumably unknowingly, while the fool becomes comfortable remaining on the wrong one. The wrong path does not immediately provide discomfort, so “can it be that terrible?” He says. Both ultimately arrive at the same destination: destruction. This connects back to verses 26–27, where calamity arrives suddenly upon those who repeatedly rejected Wisdom’s warnings. Their apparent security allowed them to disregard correction until the consequences of their choices became unavoidable. The verse serves as a warning that both wandering away from Wisdom and becoming comfortable without her instruction can lead to the same destructive end.
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