PROVERBS 27:12 A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; The simple pass on and are punished.
Prudent; The Hebrew word here is עָרוּם `aruwm aw-room'. It's a passive participle of 06191; cunning (usually in a bad sense):--crafty, prudent, subtil.
NSB* - The term prudent means "shrewd". There is no wisdom in being reckless.
My notes: There is a difference between taking calculated chances to succeed at something etc, and the kind of recklessness you want to avoid in this context. This is talking about getting seduced by evil and wickedness.
Foresee; The Hebrew word is רָאָה ra'ah a primitive root; to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative):--advise self, appear, approve, behold, × certainly, consider, discern, (make to) enjoy, have experience, gaze, take heed, × indeed, × joyfully, lo, look (on, one another, one on another, one upon another, out, up, upon), mark, meet, × be near, perceive, present, provide, regard, (have) respect, (fore-, cause to, let) see(-r, -m, one another), shew (self), × sight of others, (e-)spy, stare, × surely, × think, view, visions. The King James uses the word "foreseeth" so if you are going to look this up it will be under that, not "foresee".
My Notes: So in this text, this doesn't have the idea of predicting the future, but rather using either the gift of discernment or experience either you or other people have had to determine the most likely outcome.
Evil; The Hebrew word here is רַע ra`rah, bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral):-- adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease(-ure), distress, evil((- favouredness), man, thing), + exceedingly, × great, grief(-vous), harm, heavy, hurt(-ful), ill (favoured), + mark, mischief(-vous), misery, naught(-ty), noisome, + not please, sad(-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked(-ly, -ness, one), worse(-st), wretchedness, wrong. (Incl. feminine raaah; as adjective or noun.).
Hides; The Hebrew here is סָתַר cathar saw-thar'. a primitive root; to hide (by covering), literally or figuratively:--be absent, keep close, conceal, hide (self), (keep) secret, × surely.
My Notes: I think here you could use this figuratively or literally. Ie, generally speaking, if you don't go into places where you will be tempted to sin or get attacked physically or spiritually you are going to be better off. However this can also be applied to guarding your thoughts.
Simple; Has the idea of silly, foolish, or seducible. The Hebrew word used here is פְּתָאִי pthiy peth-ee'.
Punished; Strong's doesn't offer a definition for this word in this instance. I think we can confidently say it has the idea of "suffering the consequence" in proportion to the evil you got sucked into.
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