Quick answer
The same lesson costs different people different amounts. The verse sorts by teachability, exactly as 19:25 did.
Read both lines
Three characters again, and the descending scale from 19:25 holds: the scoffer is punished and does not visibly learn, the simple watching nearby does, and the wise man needs only instruction. Notice who is missing from the payoff. The scoffer gains nothing in either verse, which is consistent and slightly bleak, and the benefit of his punishment goes entirely to the onlooker. What this verse adds to its twin is the second half's verb, receives, an active taking rather than an absorbing. The wise man is not merely cheaper to teach; he does something with what arrives. And the two halves are not describing two methods so much as two costs. The lesson is identical in both lines. What changes is how much has to happen before anyone learns it, which is a measurement of the learner rather than of the teaching.
Related: Proverbs 19:25 · Proverbs 19:29 · Proverbs 9:8 · Proverbs 17:10
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.