Proverbs 14 · a question people ask
"Fools mock at making atonement for sins" (14:9). What is it that fools mock?
In Hebrew the whole verse is six words. The WEB's making atonement for sins is one of them, asham (tap atonement), which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "offence, guilt" and "trespass-offering", and Strong's as "guilt; by implication, a fault; also a sin-offering". It is the word of the law's trespass offering: "he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned" (Leviticus 5:6). Mock is the verb of scoffer in 14:6 (tap scoffer). The verse sets the fools beside the upright: "among the upright there is good will" (14:9). It says no more about what the fools do, or why. The book has other sayings on sin and its covering: "By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for" (Proverbs 16:6), and "He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). These notes don't say more than the verse does.
The verses
“A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.”
“Fools mock at making atonement for sins, but among the upright there is good will.”
“and he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned: a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.”
“By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”