261 Like snow in summer and rain when the grain is being cut, so honour is not natural for the foolish.
2 As the sparrow in her wandering and the swallow in her flight, so the curse does not come without a cause.
3 A whip for the horse, a mouth-bit for the ass, and a rod for the back of the foolish.
4 Do not give to the foolish man a foolish answer, or you will be like him. 5 Give a foolish man a foolish answer, or he will seem wise to himself.
6 He who sends news by the hand of a foolish man is cutting off his feet and drinking in damage. 7 The legs of one who has no power of walking are hanging loose; so is a wise saying in the mouth of the foolish. 8 Giving honour to a foolish man is like attempting to keep a stone fixed in a cord. 9 Like a thorn which goes up into the hand of a man overcome by drink, so is a wise saying in the mouth of a foolish man.
10 Like an archer wounding all who go by, is a foolish man overcome by drink.
11 Like a dog going back to the food which he has not been able to keep down, is the foolish man doing his foolish acts over again.
12 Have you seen a man who seems to himself to be wise? There is more hope for the foolish than for him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 26:1-12
Commentary on Proverbs 26:1
(Read Proverbs 26:1)
Honour is out of season to those unworthy and unfit for it.
Commentary on Proverbs 26:2
(Read Proverbs 26:2)
He that is cursed without cause, the curse shall do him no more harm than the bird that flies over his head.
Commentary on Proverbs 26:3
(Read Proverbs 26:3)
Every creature must be dealt with according to its nature, but careless and profligate sinners never will be ruled by reason and persuasion. Man indeed is born like the wild ass's colt; but some, by the grace of God, are changed.
Commentary on Proverbs 26:4-5
(Read Proverbs 26:4-5)
We are to fit our remarks to the man, and address them to his conscience, so as may best end the debate.
Commentary on Proverbs 26:6-9
(Read Proverbs 26:6-9)
Fools are not fit to be trusted, nor to have any honour. Wise sayings, as a foolish man delivers and applies them, lose their usefulness.
Commentary on Proverbs 26:10
(Read Proverbs 26:10)
This verse may either declare how the Lord, the Creator of all men, will deal with sinners according to their guilt, or, how the powerful among men should disgrace and punish the wicked.
Commentary on Proverbs 26:11
(Read Proverbs 26:11)
The dog is a loathsome emblem of those sinners who return to their vices, 2 Peter 2:22.
Commentary on Proverbs 26:12
(Read Proverbs 26:12)
We see many a one who has some little sense, but is proud of it. This describes those who think their spiritual state to be good, when really it is very bad.