This saying again parallels and contrasts the first line with the second.

“Wisdom is a fountain of life to him who has it”: For “a fountain of life” see the comments on 10.11. The Hebrew is literally “Fountain of life insight [of] its owner,” and this is somewhat obscure. Good News Translation takes “him who has it” to refer to “the wise,” and this is probably the intended sense. As in 10.11, it may be necessary to express “a fountain of life” as a simile; for example, “For the wise person wisdom is like a life-giving fountain.”

“But folly is the chastisement of fools”: “Folly” contrasts with “Wisdom” and “chastisement” contrasts with “fountain of life”. For “folly” see 5.23 and 12.23. “Chastisement” renders a Hebrew word often translated “instruction,” but in this context it means “punishment.” In 13.24 the same Hebrew word is translated “discipline” (Revised Standard Version) and “correct” (Good News Translation). The sense of the second line is that fools are punished by their own foolishness. Good News Translation takes this line to mean that it is foolish to try to teach fools. This is followed by New Living Translation, but it is not widely accepted. Contemporary English Version translates the saying: “Good sense is a fountain that gives life, but fools are punished by their foolishness.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .