Proverbs 14:15

The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

The simple believeth every word - whether, true or false, useful or injurious. "Charity," indeed, "believeth all things" (); but not things that are palpably untrue. It is the truth which it readily believes. It believes all that it can with a good conscience believe to the credit of another, but not anything more. Epicharmus says, 'The sinews and limbs of faith are not rashly to believe' ().

But the prudent (man) looketh well to his going - whether it tends to grace and salvation, or to sin and perdition: he 'believeth not every word,' as, for instance, the flattering words of seducers, who commend to him false doctrine or licentious practice (cf: ).