Proverbs 26:2
1 Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor does not befit a fool.
Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
- KJV
- As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
- WEB
- Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn’t come to rest.
- ASV
- As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, So the curse that is causeless alighteth not.
- DARBY
- As the sparrow for flitting about, as the swallow for flying, so a curse undeserved shall not come.
- BLB
- Like the sparrow in fluttering, like the swallow in flying, so a curse without cause does not come.
- ÅB
- Som spurven i fart, som svalen i flukt, slik er det med en uforskyldt forbannelse -- den rammer ikke.
- OTB
- Som en flaksende spurv eller en svevende svale, slik lander ikke en forbannelse uten grunn.
- B1930
- Som spurven i fart, som svalen i flukt, slik er det med en uforskyldt forbannelse - den rammer ikke.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Numbers 23:8
How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I denounce what the LORD has not denounced?
Read in contextNehemiah 13:2
because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).
Read in contextPsalms 109:28
Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 23:4–5
For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
Read in context2 Samuel 16:12
Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”
Read in context1 Samuel 17:43
“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
Read in contextProverbs 27:8
Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who wanders from his home.
Read in context1 Samuel 14:28–29
Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the troops with a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ That is why the people are faint.”
Read in context