Scripture's Proverbs-vocabulary for the man whose disposition toward correction is contempt rather than receptivity. Hebrew lets (scorner, mocker, scoffer). Proverbs 9:7-8 gives the diagnostic: He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. The scorner is distinguished from the simple (who can be taught) and from the fool (whose problem is moral, not just intellectual) by his settled disposition: correction meets contempt, instruction meets mockery, wisdom meets sneer. Proverbs 13:1 contrasts: A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke. Proverbs 21:24 names the heart-condition: Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath. The scorner is the man pride has hardened past learning. The biblical counsel is not to keep trying to reach him; it is to invest correction-energy in the teachable.