Proverbs 26

May 20, 2022

Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.

Reading along with us in selections from Psalms and Proverbs? Here’s today’s reading:

Proverbs 26 (NIV)

1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
honor is not fitting for a fool.
2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a 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 just like him...........Continue Reading

Next: Proverbs 27
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Back: Psalms 58-59

This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. This in an interesting chapter about all the types of people we could be and interact with. God is showing us that we must not only be mindful of our own actions and behaviors but also how we deal with others.
    That we would be wise, not lazy, and keep out intentions good. That we should be discerning when engaging with foolish people….there is a time to respond and a time to just keep quiet.
    Ultimately our words and behaviors should always be consistent with the things of God and we will avoid the pitfalls discussed in this chapter.

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  5. Glad I don’t have a quarrelsome wife or a leaky roof. Iron sharpens iron So true love being around people that bring my thoughts to more clarity. Enjoy being challenged. Wooops. That was proverbs 27!!

    Reply

  7. The fool and the sluggard are mentioned most often in this chapter. The fool is an unthinking person, one who acts without wisdom, perspective or consideration of what is right or wrong. The sluggard is one who refrains from work at any chance they get. So one is lazy in mind, the other is lazy in body. Both will come to ruin eventually as their bad decisions pile up and the negative consequences become too hard to overcome. It is good though that God gives not only correction but direction for such as these. In Him is wisdom to live by as well as purposes to live for.

    I was also struck by the balance between verses 4 and 5. On one hand we are encouraged to not answer a fool according to his folly, and then we are told to answer or else they will be wise in their own eyes. But rather than being contradictory, it reveals the balance that exists when dealing with fools. And with so many fools in the world today, we are wise to seek the Spirit’s direction as to which side of the coin we might operate in at a particular time.

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  8. “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
    Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.”

    I feel like entertaining much of this foolishness in our world right now, is “answering fools according to their folly.”
    Why are we arguing about whether men can get pregnant?
    Why are we appeasing lawbreakers?
    Why are we walking in fear of a disease that is 99.6-8 % recoverable?
    Why are we listening to a media that has lied deliberately and frequently in the past?
    I could go on with the foolishness.

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