Table of Contents
Proverbs 26
Proverbs 26
1 As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.
2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.
4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
6 He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.
7 The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
8 As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.
9 As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouths of fools.
10 The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors.
11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
14 As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.
15 The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.
17 He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.
18 As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,
19 So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?
20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
22 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
23 Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
24 He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;
25 When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.
26 Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.
27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
28 A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
Notes
Cross Reference
Concordance
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
<html><b>Like snow in the summer</b> when they spread the figs in the sun to dry them and to make fig cakes, as is stated (II Sam. 16:2): “the bread and the dried figs for the young men to eat.”</html>
Verse 2
<html><b>Like a wandering sparrow</b> that wanders and like a swallow that returns to its nest, so… <b>will a vain curse come home</b> to the one who uttered it with his mouth. <b>swallow Heb.</b> דרור. This is the bird known as arondele in Old French, [hirondelle in modern French, schwalbe in German,] which is called דרור, because it lives (דר) in a house as in a field.</html>
Verse 3
<html><b>A whip is for the horse</b> [It] is made for the horse, and also a rod is prepared for the body of fools. Tortures are prepared for the wicked.</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>Do not answer a fool</b> with words of quarrel and contention lest you become like him.</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>Answer a fool</b> who comes to win you over to idolatry; let him know his folly. <b>lest he be wise in his sight</b> The meaning of these two verses is explained in [the verses] themselves: <b>Do not answer</b> in a matter in which you will become like him if you answer him. <b>Answer a fool</b> in a matter in which he will be wise in his sight if you do not answer him.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>wears out legs and “drinks violence”</b> He who sends a message by the hand of a fool wears out the legs of many messengers by repetitively sending [them] to rectify what the first one, whom he sent at the beginning, distorted. And he “drinks violence,” for his fellow is wroth with him for sending a fool.</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>thighs seem raised to a lame man</b> Heb. דליו, as in (Isa. 38:14): “My eyes were lifted (דלו).” Every man’s thighs appear to the lame to be higher than he. This phrase is a parable in the mouth of the fool, who says it in reference to the study of wisdom, “How can we come to study wisdom? It is hidden and raised up higher than I am. The parable states, ‘Thighs seem raised to a lame man.’”</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>in a slingshot</b> Heb. במרגמה fronde in French, Schleuder in German, in which the stone tied will not remain, for it is destined to be thrown, so is it with one who gives honor to a fool—it is not permanent. And our Sages (Hullin 133a) explained it homiletically as referring to one who teaches Torah to an unfitting student, that he is tantamount to casting a stone into a merculis.</html>
Verse 9
<html><b>A thorn came up in a drunkard’s hand</b> Just like a thorn that is stuck to a drunkard’s hand, so is the parable stated below stuck in the mouth of a fool to be for him as a thorn—yea, a painful thorn. Now what is the parable?…</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>The Master created all</b> The Holy One, blessed be He, created all and sustains all, the fool like the wise man. We do not need any wisdom. <b>and He hires a fool</b> Unlike a mortal, who hires only expert workers, and who hires only those engaged in his work, the Holy One, blessed be He, creates all and hires the fools and hires wayfarers, who are idle from all work. [According to] Midrash Aggadah, ושכר כסיל is from an expression of (Gen. 8:2) “And the fountains of the deep were closed (ויסכרו),” and an expression of (Isa. 19:10) “who make dams (שכר).” The Holy One, blessed be He, closes up the constellation of Orion (כסיל), which serves in the summer from Tishri on, and from then on, He closes off all who traverse the sea from going into it until Passover. And in the words of Rabbi Moses, I saw: רב מחולל כל, A wealthy man has many activities, and if he hires a fool, it is as though he is hiring all wayfarers who witness the deterioration of the work, to instruct how to rectify it and how he should work. This is, however, an empty thing and has no connection here.</html>
Verse 15
<html><b>in the cauldron</b> He buries his hand in a hot cauldron because of the cold.</html>
Verse 16
<html><b>who give advice</b> wise men.</html>
Verse 17
<html><b>one who grabs a dog by its ears</b> One who passes by and becomes embroiled in a quarrel that is not his is like one who grabs a dog by his ears, who causes him to bite him for no reason.</html>
Verse 18
<html><b>Like one who wearies himself</b> Like one who wearies himself shooting sparks of fire, as in (Isa. 50: 11): “and in the flames (ובזיקות) you have kindled”; from the expression זיקוקים דינור (Ber. 58b), flames of fire. Another explanation. זקים, frondeles in Old French, slings, from an expression of slingstones (Zech. 9:15), and so in the Talmud (Baba Mezia 94a) זיקתא פסוק לן, “slingers are assigned to us.” He shoots arrows and death.</html>
Verse 19
<html><b>so is a man who deceives</b> He wins over and entices his friend from ways of life to ways of death, and when his friend realizes that he is misleading him, he says, “I am joking.”</html>
Verse 20
<html><b>without wood</b> That is to say: These two things are analogous; just as without wood the fire goes out, so without a grumbler, who slanders and incites quarrelers, strife quiets down.</html>
Verse 21
<html><b>As charcoal is for coals and wood is for fire</b> Charcoal on fire is capable of igniting dying embers, and wood is capable of kindling fire, and a quarrelsome man of kindling strife.</html>
Verse 22
<html><b>as though waging battle</b> Heb. כמתלהמים, an expression of מתלחמים. Our Sages however, explained כמתלהמים, כמתלהם, like death to them. The words of the spies became their death. <b>the innermost parts of the body</b> lit. they go down into the chambers of the stomach. This is the death of dropsy.</html>
Verse 23
<html><b>overlaid on earthenware</b> Like silver dross attached to the earthenware in which it is refined, making the utensil shine as though it were silver although it has no use, so are burning lips and wicked heart, which pursue people to entice them with smooth and hypocritical talk. <b>and a wicked heart</b> They appear to be friends, but they are enemies. <b>burning</b> Heb. דולקים, as in “you pursued (דלקת) me so hotly” (Gen. 31:36).</html>
Verse 24
<html><b>An enemy dissembles</b> With his speech, an enemy dissembles, so that it is not recognizable that he is an enemy. ינכר, deconnoitre in French, [verkennen in German, and so did Redak write, that it is an expression of denial and making oneself strange, the opposite of recognition (הכרה)].</html>
Verse 26
<html><b>When the hatred is covered with darkness</b> If one performs his deed in the darkness and conceals with משאון, which is pitch darkness (שואת חשך) the thing that is hated by the Holy One, blessed be He, [then] ultimately the Holy One, blessed be He, will reveal his evil in public, so that they should recognize that he is wicked.</html>
Verse 27
<html><b>He who digs a pit</b> For example, Balaam, who persuaded Balak to cause Israel to sin and caused twenty-four thousand of them to fall. He came to Midian to demand his pay and was slain by Israel. <b>and he who rolls</b> That is to say that whoever places a stumbling block will ultimately stumble on it. <b>and he who rolls a stone</b> He rolls it from place to place so that people will stumble on it. The Aggadah (Tanhuma Buber, Vayera 28, see footnote 157) interprets it in reference to Abimelech, who slew his seventy brothers on one stone and his end was that he died by a stone, as it is said (Jud. 9:53): “And a certain woman cast a piece of an upper millstone upon Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.”</html>
Verse 28
<html><b>hates those crushed under him</b> He who accepts slander hates those crushed under him, for Saul pursued David because of slander and slew Nob. <b>and a smooth mouth</b> A mouth of flattery. <b>effects rejection</b> It makes him rejected, for it rejects the one who accepts it from upon the Holy One, blessed be He.</html>