Proverbs 26:1

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
snow	כַּשֶּׁ֤לֶג ka.She.leg	H7950	snow (probably from its whiteness) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
summer	בַּקַּ֗יִץ ba.Ka.yitz	H7019	harvest (as the crop) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
rain	וְכַמָּטָ֥ר ve.kha.ma.Tar	H4306	rain · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
harvest	בַּקָּצִ֑יר ba.ka.Tzir	H7105	severed · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
honour	כָּבֽוֹד ka.Vod	H3519	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
seemly	נָאוֶ֖ה na.Veh	H5000	suitable · adjective, masculine singular absolute
fool	לִכְסִ֣יל likh.Sil	H3684	properly · preposition + adjective, masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 19:10 Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
Proverbs 28:16 The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.
1 Samuel 12:17-18 Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wicked…
Esther 3:1-15 After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the prin…
Esther 4:6 So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate.
Psalms 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
Psalms 15:4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
Proverbs 26:8 As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Proverbs 26:1

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest,.... Which were very undesirable and unseasonable, yea, very hurtful to the fruits of the earth; and a great obstruction to the labourers in the harvest, and a hinderance to the gathering of it in; and were very rare and uncommon in Judea; it was even a miracle for thunder and rain to be in wheat harvest, 1 Samuel 12:17; so honour is not seemly for a fool: for a wicked man; such should not be favoured by kings, and set in high places of honour and trust; "folly set in great dignity", or foolish and bad men set in honourable places, are as unsuitable and inconvenient as snow and rain in summer and harvest, and should be as rare as they; and they are…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 26:1

There now follows a group of eleven proverbs of the fool; only the first of the group has after it a proverb of different contents, but of similar form: As snow in summer, and rain in harvest; So honour befitteth not a fool. If there is snow in high summer (קיץ, to be glowing hot), it is contrary to nature; and if there is rain in harvest, it is (according to the alternations of the weather in Palestine) contrary to what is usually the case, and is a hindrance to the ingathering of the fruits of the field. Even so a fool and respect, or a place of honour, are incongruous things; honour will only injure him (as according to Pro 19:10, luxury); he will make unjust use of it, and draw false con…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 26:1

It is not fitting to give honor to fools.

Rashi on Proverbs 26:1

Like snow in the summer 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.”

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

Just as snow in summer, etc. This verse warns that the teaching honor should not be conferred on the unlearned. Snow in summer and rain in harvest represent the persecutions of the unbelievers at the time of the preaching of the gospel, which, when they perhaps more heavily pursue, impede the warmth of love in many and spoil the fruits of good work. Glory given to a fool is rightly compared to harvest because if the unlearned is given the chair of teaching, the church is equally harmed by the persecution of the unbelievers, which the disaster of the Arian tempest has proved to be very true.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Thunder — Often referred to in Scripture (Job 40:9; Ps. 77:18; 104:7). James and John were called by our Lord “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17). In Job 39:19, instead of “thunder,” as in the Authorized Version,…
Fools · Honour is unbecoming for — Honour is unbecoming for
Harvest, The · Illustrative: (Rain in,) of honour given to fools — Illustrative: (Rain in,) of honour given to fools
Meteorology And Celestial Phenomena · 9:7;26:7,8,11;27:20,21;28:24-27;29:19;36:27-33;37:6-22;38:8-11,22,24-29,31-35,37; — 9:7;26:7,8,11;27:20,21;28:24-27;29:19;36:27-33;37:6-22;38:8-11,22,24-29,31-35,37;
Rain · Unusual in harvest time — Unusual in harvest time
Summer · Snow in — Snow in

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).