Albert Barnes Commentary Proverbs 1:22

"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?" — Proverbs 1:22 (ASV)

Compare the Psalms 1:1 note.

1. The “simple,” literally, “open,” i.e., fatally open to evil;
2. The “scorners,” mocking at all good;
3. Lastly, the “fools” in the sense of being hardened, obstinate, perverse, hating the knowledge they have rejected.