This verse closes the father's lecture on wisdom and the neighbor, Proverbs 3:21–35, and the chapter.
Quick answer
Two estates are being written: the wise inherit glory, honor that comes as a bequest, while shame is what fools leave and receive.
Read the whole unit
The father's lecture on wisdom and the neighbor moves in three sweeps. First, security (vv. 21–26): keep sound wisdom in view and the results are bodily and immediate, safe steps, unafraid nights, sweet sleep, because "the LORD will be your confidence." Second, the neighbor (vv. 27–31): five consecutive "do nots" that bring wisdom down from the cosmos of the preceding poem to the person next door. Do not withhold good that is owed, do not delay it until tomorrow, do not plot against the neighbor who trusts you, do not pick fights, and do not envy the violent man who seems to be winning. Third, the reasons (vv. 32–35): four verses that ground neighbor-ethics in the LORD's own stances, His abomination and His intimacy, His curse and His blessing, His scorn and His grace, and the divergent inheritances of the wise and the foolish. Some scholars divide the passage at v. 27, treating the neighbor commands as their own unit; the flow of thought holds together as one lecture, since the "do nots" rest directly on the security just described (a person confident in the LORD can afford to be generous and unenvious) and the closing verses supply the reasons for both halves. This entry set treats 3:21–35 as one lecture and notes the boundary question honestly here, once.
What this verse contributes
The chapter ends with a legal image: inheritance, the estate a life settles on those who come after, accruing now, deed by deed, long before it is read. It is a fitting last word for a chapter that began with a father passing wisdom to a son, because teaching is itself inheritance in advance. The fool's tragedy is that he bequeaths: shame is called his legacy, the one thing he reliably leaves behind. The wise man's glory is called an inheritance, which is to say received, and that word quietly points beyond every estate a man can earn.
Related: Proverbs 13:22 · Daniel 12:2–3
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.