3A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
         And a rod for the back of fools.

4Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
         Or you will also be like him.

5Answer a fool as his folly deserves,
         That he not be wise in his own eyes.

6He cuts off his own feet and drinks violence
         Who sends a message by the hand of a fool.

7Like the legs which are useless to the lame,
         So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

8Like one who binds a stone in a sling,
         So is he who gives honor to a fool.

9Like a thorn which falls into the hand of a drunkard,
         So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

10Like an archer who wounds everyone,
         So is he who hires a fool or who hires those who pass by.

11Like a dog that returns to its vomit
         Is a fool who repeats his folly.

12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
         There is more hope for a fool than for him.

13The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
         A lion is in the open square!”

14As the door turns on its hinges,
         So does the sluggard on his bed.

15The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
         He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.

16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
         Than seven men who can give a discreet answer.

17Like one who takes a dog by the ears
         Is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him.

18Like a madman who throws
         Firebrands, arrows and death,

19So is the man who deceives his neighbor,
         And says, “Was I not joking?”

20For lack of wood the fire goes out,
         And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.

21Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
         So is a contentious man to kindle strife.

22The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,
         And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

23Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross
         Are burning lips and a wicked heart.

24He who hates disguises it with his lips,
         But he lays up deceit in his heart.

25When he speaks graciously, do not believe him,
         For there are seven abominations in his heart.

26Though his hatred covers itself with guile,
         His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.

27He who digs a pit will fall into it,
         And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

28A lying tongue hates those it crushes,
         And a flattering mouth works ruin.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, So a curse without cause does not alight.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so a hastily spoken curse does not come to rest.

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

Douay-Rheims Bible
As a bird flying to other places, and a sparrow going here or there: so a curse uttered without cause shall come upon a man.

Darby Bible Translation
As the sparrow for flitting about, as the swallow for flying, so a curse undeserved shall not come.

English Revised Version
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, so the curse that is causeless lighteth not.

Webster's Bible Translation
As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

World English Bible
Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn't come to rest.

Young's Literal Translation
As a bird by wandering, as a swallow by flying, So reviling without cause doth not come.

Cross References

Numbers 23:8 "How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?

Deuteronomy 23:5 "Nevertheless, the LORD your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you.

2 Samuel 16:12 "Perhaps the LORD will look on my affliction and return good to me instead of his cursing this day."

Proverbs 27:8 Like a bird that wanders from her nest, So is a man who wanders from his home.

Isaiah 16:2 Then, like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings, The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verse 2

Here is, 1. The folly of passion. It makes men scatter causeless curses, wishing ill to others upon presumption that they are bad and have done ill, when either they mistake the person or misunderstand the fact, or they call evil good and good evil. Give honour to a fool, and he thunders out his anathemas against all that he is disgusted with, right or wrong. Great men, when wicked, think they have a privilege to keep those about them in awe, by cursing them, and swearing at them, which yet is an expression of the most impotent malice and shows their weakness as much as their wickedness. 2. The safety of innocency. He that is cursed without cause, whether by furious imprecations or solemn anathemas, the curse shall do him no more harm than the bird that flies over his head, than Goliath's curses did to David, 1 Sa. 17:43. It will fly away like the sparrow or the wild dove, which go nobody knows where, till they return to their proper place, as the curse will at length return upon the head of him that uttered it.

Links

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New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

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Bible Browser

The Hebrew Sages and their Proverbs
[Sidenote: Role of the sages in Israel's life] In the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. xviii. 18; Ezek. vii. 26) three distinct classes of religious teachers were recognized by the people: the prophets, the priests, and the wise men or sages. From their lips and pens have come practically all the writings of the Old Testament. Of these three classes the wise men or sages are far less prominent or well known. They wrote no history of Israel, they preached no public sermons, nor do they appear …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

We Shall not be Curious in the Ranking of the Duties in which Christian Love...
We shall not be curious in the ranking of the duties in which Christian love should exercise itself. All the commandments of the second table are but branches of it: they might be reduced all to the works of righteousness and of mercy. But truly these are interwoven through other. Though mercy uses to be restricted to the showing of compassion upon men in misery, yet there is a righteousness in that mercy, and there is mercy in the most part of the acts of righteousness, as in not judging rashly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament