Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageWisdom is beyond a fool's reach — in the place of public judgment, he has nothing to offer.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GWisdom stands too high for a fool — at the gate he cannot open his mouth.
KJV
King James VersionWisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleWisdom is too high for a fool; he does not open his mouth in the meeting place.
Footnotes
The *sha'ar* (gate) was the nerve centre of ancient Israelite civic life — the forum for legal proceedings, commercial contracts, and communal deliberation. Elders sat at the gate; justice was dispensed there; a man's reputation was made or broken there. To be silenced at the gate is not merely social embarrassment; it is civic nullification — to have no voice in the matters that govern a community. The fool's silence here is a legal, moral, and communal failure compressed into one image. FOG preserves 'gate' with its full ANE weight; FOG Message unpacks the civic function for a reader who would otherwise picture a medieval door.