“A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding”: For “rebuke” see 13.1. “Goes deeper” refers to the impact or effect that the rebuke or correction has on a person’s behavior. “A man of understanding”, as in 1.5, refers here to an intelligent or wise person.

“Than a hundred blows into a fool”: The single correction for the wise person who learns quickly is compared to “a hundred blows” to the body of a fool. “Blows” are forcible strikes against the body made by an instrument such as a whip or stick. In this saying the “blows” are given to correct the person’s faults. Bible en français courant translates “A rebuke has more influence on an intelligent person than a hundred blows of a stick on a fool.” We may also say, for example, “A wise person learns more from a single correction than a fool learns from being beaten a hundred times.” See Good News Translation. In one language the verse is restructured to say “If you want to correct a thinking person, you talk to him just once and he understands. But if you want to correct a foolish person, you can hit him with a stick 100 times, and he will still not change his ways.”

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 .