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

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Whoever uses a fool to send a message cuts off his own feet and brings violence upon himself.

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

Douay-Rheims Bible
He that sendeth words by a foolish messenger, is lame of feet and drinketh iniquity.

Darby Bible Translation
He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off his own feet, and drinketh damage.

English Revised Version
He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off his own feet, and drinketh in damage.

Webster's Bible Translation
He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.

World English Bible
One who sends a message by the hand of a fool is cutting off feet and drinking violence.

Young's Literal Translation
He is cutting off feet, he is drinking injury, Who is sending things by the hand of a fool.

Cross References

Proverbs 10:26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, So is the lazy one to those who send him.

Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes.

Proverbs 26:7 Like the legs which are useless to the lame, So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 6-9

To recommend wisdom to us, and to quicken us to the diligent use of all the means for the getting of wisdom, Solomon here shows that fools are fit for nothing; they are either sottish men, who will never think and design at all, or vicious men, who will never think and design well. 1. They are not fit to be entrusted with any business, not fit to go on an errand (v. 6): He that does but send a message by the hand of a fool, of a careless heedless person, one who is so full of his jests and so given to his pleasures that he cannot apply his mind to any thing that is serious, will find his message misunderstood, the one half of it forgotten, the rest awkwardly delivered, and so many blunders made about it that he might as well have cut off his legs, that is, never have sent him. Nay, he will drink damage; it will be very much to his prejudice to have employed such a one, who, instead of bringing him a good account of his affairs, will abuse him and put a trick upon him; for, in Solomon's language, a knave and a fool are of the same signification. It will turn much to a man's disgrace to make use of the service of a fool, for people will be apt to judge of the master by his messenger. 2. They are not fit to have any honour put upon them. He had said (v. 1), Honour is not seemly for a fool; here he shows that it is lost and thrown away upon him, as if a man should throw a precious stone, or a stone fit to be used in weighing, into a heap of common stones, where it would be buried and of no use; it is as absurd as if a man should dress up a stone in purple (so others); nay, it is dangerous, it is like a stone bound in a sling, with which a man will be likely to do hurt. To give honour to a fool is to put a sword in a madman's hand, with which we know not what mischief he may do, even to those that put it into his hand. 3. They are not fit to deliver wise sayings, nor should they undertake to handle any matter of weight, though they should be instructed concerning it, and be able to say something to it. Wise sayings, as a foolish man delivers them and applies them (in such a manner that one may know he does not rightly understand them), lose their excellency and usefulness: A parable in the mouth of fools ceases to be a parable, and becomes a jest. If a man who lives a wicked life, yet speaks religiously and takes God's covenant into his mouth, (1.) He does but shame himself and his profession: As the legs of the lame are not equal, by reason of which their going is unseemly, so unseemly is it for a fool to pretend to speak apophthegms, and give advice, and for a man to talk devoutly whose conversation is a constant contradiction to his talk and gives him the lie. His good words raise him up, but then his bad life takes him down, and so his legs are not equal. "A wise saying," (says bishop Patrick) "doth as ill become a fool as dancing doth a cripple; for, as his lameness never so much appears as when he would seem nimble, so the other's folly is never so ridiculous as when he would seem wise." As therefore it is best for a lame man to keep his seat, so it is best for a silly man, or a bad man, to hold his tongue. (2.) He does but do mischief with it to himself and others, as a drunkard does with a thorn, or any other sharp thing which he takes in his hand, with which he tears himself and those about him, because he knows not how to manage it. Those that talk well and do not live well, their good words will aggravate their own condemnation and others will be hardened by their inconsistency with themselves. Some give this sense of it: The sharpest saying, by which a sinner, one would think, should be pricked to the heart, makes no more impression upon a fool, no, though it come out of his own mouth, than the scratch of a thorn does upon the hand of a man when he is drunk, who then feels it not nor complains of it, ch. 23:35.

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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