Proverbs 16:22

unto him that hath it. Elsewhere the thought is of the benefit conferred upon others:

"The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life";

"The law (or teaching) of the wise is a fountain of life";

(Proverbs 10:11; Proverbs 13:14). Here it is of the benefit of wisdom to its possessor: the water "in him, a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14); not the "rivers of living water" flowing from him to bless others (John 7:38).

the instruction of foolsis folly Rather, the correction of fools is their folly, R.V. The A.V. has been taken to mean that all instruction bestowed upon fools, as assimilated by them, is only folly, it leaves them fools as it found them: "the only correction of their infatuation is a further increase of it" (Horton). But the parallelism is preserved and a good sense obtained by understanding correction to mean punishment: As wisdom is its own reward, so folly is its own punishment.