Proverbs › Chapter 26

Proverbs 26

28 verses, grouped into the passages they belong to.

Proverbs 26:1

As snow in summer and rain in harvest, So honor is not fitting for a fool.

Honor given to a fool is weather in the wrong season. The verse says it does not belong, and leaves the damage implied.

Proverbs 26:2

Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.

A curse with nothing behind it has nowhere to land. It stays in the air like a bird that will not settle.

Proverbs 26:3

A whip for the horse, A bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the fool's back.

Three lines, three tools, and the third is deliberately jarring. The saying observes that some creatures respond only to physical restraint and places the fool in that company.

Answer, and Do Not Answer, a Fool

Proverbs 26:4–5

Read the whole unit Two consecutive verses give opposite commands in nearly identical words, and the contradiction is intentional.

Proverbs 26:4

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him.

Do not meet foolishness on its own terms, because arguing in someone's idiom makes you a user of it. This verse is half of a deliberate pair and should never be read without verse 5.

Proverbs 26:5

Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Do answer it, and answer it in a form its folly cannot survive, because silence can leave a fool confirmed in his own estimate. This verse is half of a deliberate pair and should never be read without verse 4.

Proverbs 26:6

He who sends a message by the hand of a fool Cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.

Trusting a fool with your message is self-harm. The verse says you have amputated your own means of getting there.

Proverbs 26:7

Like the legs of the lame that hang limp Is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

A proverb quoted by a fool is a leg that does not carry weight. The apparatus is there and it does nothing.

Proverbs 26:8

Like one who binds a stone in a sling Is he who gives honor to a fool.

Honoring a fool is tying the stone into the sling. You have defeated the instrument by the very act of loading it.

Proverbs 26:9

Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard Is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

Same conclusion as verse 7, sharper picture. A drunk man with a thorn in his hand is holding something that will hurt somebody, and he does not know it.

Proverbs 26:10

The great God who formed everything Gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages.

The verse is genuinely obscure and English versions disagree about nearly all of it, including who the subject is. What survives every reading is that hiring a fool has consequences.

Proverbs 26:11

As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly.

The image is disgusting on purpose. The verse is about the returning, the loop a person keeps completing, and not about the person's worth.

Proverbs 26:12

Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

After eleven verses of contempt for the fool, the chapter says there is somebody worse. The man who thinks he is wise is further gone.

Proverbs 26:13

The lazy man says, "There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion is in the streets!"

He has a reason and it is a big one. The verse lets him say it out loud so the reader can hear how impressive the excuse is.

Proverbs 26:14

As a door turns on its hinges, So does the lazy man on his bed.

Motion without travel. He is moving all night and he is exactly where he started.

Proverbs 26:15

The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.

The food is reached and the trip home is too much. The verse repeats a joke the book already told, with the punchline stated rather than implied.

Proverbs 26:16

The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can answer sensibly.

He has done nothing all week and he is certain he sees it more clearly than seven people who could actually explain themselves.

Proverbs 26:17

He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own Is like one who takes a dog by the ears.

Grabbing a stray dog's ears is easy and letting go is not. The verse is about the moment after you involve yourself.

The Man Who Says He Was Joking

Proverbs 26:18–19

Read the whole unit These two verses are one sentence.

Proverbs 26:18

Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death,

This verse is the first half of one sentence and has no predicate of its own. It sets up an image of a man hurling lit torches and live arrows at random, and verse 19 says who that is.

Proverbs 26:19

Is the man who deceives his neighbor, And says, “I was only joking!”

It is the man who did real damage to someone he knows and then claimed it was a joke. The comparison is to a lunatic with live weapons, and the saying is not exaggerating for effect.

Proverbs 26:20

Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases.

Fires need fuel and quarrels need a supplier. Remove the person carrying the reports and the thing starves.

Proverbs 26:21

As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Some people are fuel. The verse says a contentious man does to a dispute what wood does to a fire.

Proverbs 26:22

The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, And they go down into the inmost body.

Gossip is delicious and it does not stay on the surface. The verse explains why the fuel in the previous two verses keeps getting supplied.

Proverbs 26:23

Fervent lips with a wicked heart Are like earthenware covered with silver dross.

Warm words over a cold heart are a cheap pot with a shiny coating. The verse is about a finish that misrepresents what is underneath.

Proverbs 26:24

He who hates, disguises it with his lips, And lays up deceit within himself;

Hatred talks pleasantly. The verse says the disguise is on the lips and the actual content is being stored somewhere else.

Proverbs 26:25

When he speaks kindly, do not believe him, For there are seven abominations in his heart;

The kindness is the warning sign, not the reassurance. The verse tells you what to do with it: do not believe him.

Proverbs 26:26

Though his hatred is covered by deceit, His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.

The cover does not hold. The verse says the exposure happens in public, before the gathered community.

Proverbs 26:27

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, And he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

The trap catches its maker. Two images, both of effort spent on someone else that returns to the person who spent it.

Proverbs 26:28

A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, And a flattering mouth works ruin.

The liar does not merely damage the person he lies about, he resents them for it. The second line adds flattery to the same charge.

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