Proverbs 26

Snow in summer and rain at harvest time are out of place. Honor is just as out of place for a fool.

1As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.

NoteIn Israel the grain harvest falls in the dry season, when rain does not normally fall and would ruin the crop laid out to dry; snow in summer never happens at all. Both images are freak weather that does damage: that is the point of the comparison.

2Like a sparrow flitting past or a swallow darting by, a curse with no cause never lands.

2As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

NoteIn the ancient world a curse was a spoken formula calling down harm on a named person, and it was taken to have real force once uttered. "With no cause" means undeserved. The bird images are of something that flits past overhead without ever settling.

3A whip is for the horse, a bridle is for the donkey, and a rod is for the back of a fool.

3A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.

NoteThe rod is a stick used for beating, the standard image of discipline in Proverbs. The saying lists three tools alongside three creatures that will not respond to reason.

4Do not answer a fool the way his foolish talk invites you to, or you will end up just like him.

4Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase translated "the way his foolish talk invites you to" in this verse and "the way his foolish talk deserves" in the next is exactly the same in both. It can mean either "on his own foolish terms" or "in the manner his folly calls for," and the two verses were deliberately set side by side, each warning of a different risk.

5Answer a fool the way his foolish talk deserves, or he will go on thinking he is wise.

5Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

NoteSame Hebrew phrase as in verse 4; see the note there. Ancient readers were expected to notice the pair and weigh which situation they were in.

6Sending a message by the hand of a fool is like cutting off your own feet, or like drinking down harm.

6He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.

Note"Cutting off your own feet" means destroying your own means of getting somewhere, the messenger was your legs. "Drinking down harm" is a Hebrew idiom for swallowing trouble you brought on yourself; the word behind "harm" can also mean violence.

7A lame man's legs hang limp and uneven. A wise saying in the mouth of a fool is just as useless.

7The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

NoteThe Hebrew here is difficult and its exact sense is disputed; it reads roughly "legs dangle from a lame man." The comparison is that both hang there looking like the real thing while doing no actual work.

8Giving honor to a fool is like tying a stone tight into a sling.

8As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.

NoteA sling is a strap that is whirled and then released so the stone flies. Tying the stone into it makes the weapon useless and a danger to the man swinging it. Some read the Hebrew instead as setting a precious stone in a heap of ordinary stones; either way the honor is wasted.

9A wise saying in the mouth of a fool is like a thornbush that comes up in the hand of a drunk man.

9As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

Note"Comes up in the hand" means the thorn drives into it. The image is deliberately open: a drunk man may not even feel the wound, and he waves the branch about and injures others. The wise saying in a fool's mouth is wasted and dangerous in the same way.

10The great God who formed everything gives the fool what is coming to him, and gives the lawbreaker what is coming to him too.

10The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors.

NoteThis verse is one of the most obscure sentences in the book, and ancient and modern translators disagree sharply about it. The King James translators read it as being about God repaying fools and lawbreakers; other readings take it as an archer shooting at random, or as a man who hires a fool or a passing stranger and wounds everyone in the process.

11Just as a dog goes back to its own vomit, a fool goes back to his foolishness.

11As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

12Do you see a man who thinks he is wise? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

12Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

13The lazy man says, "There is a lion in the road! There is a lion loose in the streets!"

13The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.

NoteLions did live in the thickets of the Jordan valley in biblical times, so a lion on a country road is a conceivable danger, but a lion loose in the town streets is not. The excuse escalates into absurdity.

14A door swings back and forth on its hinges, and the lazy man turns back and forth on his bed.

14As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.

15The lazy man buries his hand in the dish, and it wears him out to lift it back to his mouth.

15The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.

NoteThe Hebrew word here is usually taken to mean a dish or bowl; the King James translators read it as the fold of a garment. People ate with their hands from a shared serving bowl, so the lazy man has already reached the food and cannot be bothered to lift it to his mouth.

16The lazy man thinks he is wiser than seven men who can give a sensible answer.

16The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.

NoteSeven is a round number in Hebrew for a full or complete set. "A sensible answer" is literally an answer given with discretion or good judgment.

17A man walking by who jumps into a quarrel that is not his own is like someone who grabs a passing dog by the ears.

17He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.

NoteDogs in ancient Israel were mostly half-wild scavengers around towns, not household pets. Grabbing one by the ears guarantees a bite and pins you there holding on.

18Think of a crazy man who throws burning sticks and shoots arrows that kill.

18As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,

NoteFirebrands are burning sticks or flaming arrows, used to set fields and buildings alight. The Hebrew lists "firebrands, arrows, death", the last item probably meaning deadly missiles of some kind.

19That is what a man is like who tricks his neighbor and then says, "I was only joking!"

19So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?

20Where there is no wood, the fire goes out. Where there is no one spreading gossip, the quarrel dies down.

20Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.

21Charcoal keeps the coals glowing and wood keeps the fire going. In the same way, a man who loves to argue keeps a quarrel burning.

21As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.

22The words of a gossip are like wounds, and they sink deep down into a person's innermost being.

22The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

NoteThe Hebrew word describing the gossip's words is uncertain: it may mean wounds, as the King James translators took it, or dainty morsels swallowed greedily, as many now read it. Both readings end the same way, the words go all the way down and stay.

23Warm, eager words that come from a wicked heart are like a piece of broken pottery coated with the scum left over from refining silver.

23Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.

NoteSilver dross is the worthless scum skimmed off molten silver when it is refined. Coating a cheap clay pot with it makes the pot glitter like something valuable. Many scholars now read the Hebrew as "glaze on an earthen vessel," which comes to the same image. "Warm, eager words" translates a phrase literally meaning burning lips.

24A man who hates you covers it up with what he says, while he stores up lies inside himself.

24He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;

25When he speaks kindly, do not believe him, because his heart is full of seven vile things.

25When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.

NoteSeven again stands for a full or complete set (see verse 16). "Vile things" translates a word for what is detestable or disgusting, the strongest term of revulsion the Hebrew has.

26His hatred may be hidden behind his lies, but his wickedness will be put on display in front of the whole assembly.

26Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.

NoteThe assembly is the gathered adult community of a town. Disputes were heard and reputations made or destroyed in public, at the open space by the town gate, in front of everyone.

27Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

27Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

NoteThe pit is a covered trap dug to catch game; the digger who forgets where it is falls in himself. The second image is of a heavy stone hauled up a slope, which crushes the man below it if it gets away.

28A lying tongue hates the people it crushes, and a flattering mouth brings ruin.

28A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

NoteThe Hebrew of the first line is clipped and disputed. It can mean that a liar comes to hate the people his lies have crushed, or that lies do harm to the very people they wound.