Fool
כְּסִילStrong’s H3684kesil (ke-sil)
Appears in 69 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Kesil is the Hebrew word usually translated “fool”, “fools” and “o fools”. It appears in 69 verses of the Old Testament.
“For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.”
Meaning
- Fool, stupid fellow, dullard, simpleton, arrogant one
How it's translated
- a fool 26
- fools 18
- and a fool 6
- the fool 6
- for a fool 3
- to a fool 3
- and o fools 2
- and fools 2
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Proverbs 49
- Ecclesiastes 17
- Psalms 3
3 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Psalms 92:6A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
- Psalms 94:8Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
- Proverbs 1:22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
- Proverbs 1:32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
- Proverbs 3:35The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
- Proverbs 8:5O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
All 69 verses, by book
Hebrew dictionary
כְּסִיל kesil · fool
fool, stupid fellow, dullard, simpleton, arrogant one
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “fool” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
FOOL, noun
[Heb.]
- One who is destitute of reason, or the common powers of understanding; an idiot.
- In common language, a person who is somewhat deficient in intellect, but not an idiot; or a person who acts absurdly; one who does not exercise his reason; one who pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom.
- In scripture, fool is often used for a wicked or depraved person; one who acts contrary to sound wisdom in his moral deportment; one who follows his own inclinations, who prefers trifling and temporary pleasures to the service of God and eternal happiness.“The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God” Psalms 14:1
- A weak christian; a godly person who has much remaining sin and unbelief.“O fools, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have written” Luke 24:25
All definitions and other forms of “fool”
- A term of indignity and reproach.
- One who counterfeits folly; a buffoon; as a king's fool
- To play the fool to act the buffoon; to jest; to make sport.
- To act like one void of understanding.
FOOL, verb intransitive
To trifle; to toy; to spend time in idleness, sport or mirth.
FOOL, verb transitive
- To treat with contempt; to disappoint; to defeat; to frustrate; to deceive; to impose on.
- To infatuate; to make foolish.
- To cheat; as, to fool one out of his money.
- To fool away, to spend in trifles, idleness, folly, or without advantage; as, to fool away time.
- To spend for things of no value or use; to expend improvidently; as, to fool away money.
FOOL, noun
A liquid made of gooseberries scalded and pounded, with cream.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.