Proverbs 27:12 (LSB)

Passage

A prudent man sees evil and hides, The simple pass on and are punished.

Nearby Context

Proverbs 27:10 Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend, And do not come to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster; Better is one who dwells near than a brother far away.

Proverbs 27:11 Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, That I may respond with a word to him who reproaches me.

Proverbs 27:12 A prudent man sees evil and hides, The simple pass on and are punished.

Proverbs 27:13 Take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger; And for a foreign woman seize it as a pledge.

Proverbs 27:14 He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, It will be counted as a curse to him.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "prudent", "sees", "evil", "hides", "simple", "pass", and "punished". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "prudent" and "sees", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "Be wise my son and make my..." into verse 13's "Take his garment when he becomes a...", so "prudent" and "sees" belong inside that flow. In Proverbs context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "prudent" and "sees" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.