Do not answer a dolt . . . /
Answer the dolt. Ingenious exegetical effort has been exercised to set
these two contradictory proverbs in a dialectic or complementary relationship
with each other. It is more plausible to assume that they were bracketed
together editorially because of the similarity of formulation while they
reflect two quite different and originally independent perspectives. The first
proverb counsels us to avoid contention with a fool because we are liable to
get entangled in his own misguided or confused terms (“by [or according to] his
folly”). The second proverb urges us to answer the fool so that he is compelled
to recognize what a fool he is. In this English version, kesil,
generally rendered as “fool,” has been translated as “dolt” because the word
for “folly” here, iwelet, is an entirely different term. (Robert Alter, The
Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:433)
