26
📚Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest,
so honour is not fitting for a fool.
2 📚Like the flitting bird,
like the flying swallow,
so the curse does not come without cause.
26:2 If we live righteously and honestly before God we need fear no curse or anything that men may say or do against us.⚜
3 📚A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the fool’s back.
4 📚Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
lest you also become like him.
5 📚Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.
26:4-5 Sometimes it is better not to try to answer fools at all. Sometimes they must be answered to reveal their foolishness, but this must be done wisely and carefully.⚜
6 📚He who sends a message by the hand
of a fool is cutting off the feet,
and drinking damage.
7 📚The legs of the lame are not equal,
like a proverb in the mouth of fools.
8 📚Like one who ties up a stone in a sling,
is he who gives honour to a fool.
9 📚Like a thorn piercing the hand
of a drunkard, is a proverb
in the mouth of fools.
10 📚The great God who formed
all things both pays the fool,
and gives transgressors their wages.
26:10 The Hebrew of this sentence is very difficult and obscure and many translations have been offered. Literally it is, “The Great One (the word ‘God’ is not here in Hebrew) who has brought forth everything hires the fool and hires the transgressor”. The possible meaning is, God uses them for His own purposes.⚜
11 📚As a dog returns to his vomit,
so a fool returns to his folly.
26:11 2 Pet 2:22; Ps 85:8. The fool returns to folly because it is more appealing to him than wisdom and righteousness. A sinful nature is attracted to sinful things.⚜
12 📚Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool
than for him.
26:3-12 These proverbs are all concerned with fools – that is, with those who are moral delinquents lacking the wisdom that comes from God (see note at Prov 1:7).⚜
26:12 Verse 5. Being wise in one’s own eyes is to be in a worse condition than a fool. It is the error that the lazy man (v 5) and the rich (Prov 28:11) have in common. We are warned against it in Prov 3:7 because such a conceit shuts out the fear of the Lord which is the only way to wisdom.⚜
13 📚The lazy person says,
“There is a lion in the road!
A lion is in the streets!”
14 📚As the door turns on its hinges,
so the lazy one turns on his bed.
15 📚The lazy person buries his hand
in the dish;
it is a weariness to him to bring it
back to his mouth.
16 📚The lazy person is wiser
in his own eyes than seven men
who can give a reason.
17 📚He who is passing by and meddles
with strife that does not pertain to him,
is like one who takes a dog by the ears.
18 📚Like a madman who hurls fire brands,
arrows, and death,
19 📚Is the man who deceives
his neighbor and says,
“I was just joking!”
20 📚Where there is no wood,
the fire goes out;
so where there is no talebearer,
the strife ceases.
21 📚As charcoal is to burning embers
and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome man to kindle strife.
22 📚The words of a talebearer are
like wounds,
and they go down into the inmost parts
of the body.
23 📚Burning lips and a wicked heart
are like an earthen pot covered
with silver dross.
24 📚He who hates, disguises this
with his lips,
and stores up deceit within him;
25 📚When he speaks graciously,
do not believe him; for there are
seven abominations in his heart.
26 📚The wickedness of the one whose
hatred is covered by deceit will be revealed
before the whole congregation.
26:23-26 Ps 28:3; 55:21; Jer 9:8; Matt 26:47-49. The hypocrite has a full number of abominations in his heart (Prov 6:16-19). See the abominations in the hearts of the hypocrites living when Jesus was on earth (Matthew chapter 23).⚜
27 📚Whoever digs a pit will fall in it,
and the one who rolls a stone,
it will come back on him.
28 📚A lying tongue hates those it harms,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.