What's the Correct Translation (Pr. 1:32)?
Most translations of Proverbs 1:32 say something akin to what the New King James has: "For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them." The context involves what happens to those who have turned away from God—those who hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord (1:29). So, is the complacency of other fools going to destroy them, or is it their own complacency? Verse 31 seems to indicate it is their own because "they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies." Thus, it would seem that their own turning away and their own complacency will slay them.
The New Life Version (one that is not being recommended) attempts to make the meaning a little more obvious: "For the foolish will be killed by their own turning away. The trust that fools put in themselves will destroy them." This rendering is along the same lines, but it may go a little further than the text warrants. Whether it is correct or not, it does seem to agree with some other Scriptures, which will be mentioned momentarily. But first, whether translated correctly or not, the idea is marvelously accurate. How many people are putting their trust in themselves? Many have rejected the Word of God and have more confidence in their own judgment, which is neither inspired nor objective.
How many have convinced themselves that man arrived on earth through the process of evolution (rather than by God creating us)? This foolishness leads to no objective standard whatsoever. If we are descended from animals that have no morality, then society just made up morals, and none of them can actually be bound upon anyone. Man would have had to invent the Bible, too; so, it cannot be trusted when it says that abortion, homosexuality, adultery, or stealing is wrong. Even if the majority of people believe that an action is evil, so what? Some will trust in their own ability to determine what right and wrong is. If others do not like this approach, that's their problem.
Other verses of Scripture echo the rendition of the New Life Version on Proverbs 1:32. Proverbs 28:26, for example, says: "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered." One's own judgment is highly subjective. Since it involves a person's own thoughts, no wonder it is so highly regarded. However, only one Being is infallible and can trust His own thoughts—namely, God. He is the source of objective thinking, since He is holy and just. Human beings, though, are influenced by various factors. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). Our behavior is not always based on what is right or best for all; it may be only what we selfishly desire.