Proverbs 26:7

The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
legs	שֹׁ֭קַיִם Sho.ka.yim	H7785	the (lower) leg (as a runner) · noun, common feminine dual absolute
lame	מִפִּסֵּ֑חַ mi.pi.Se.ach	H6455	lame · preposition + adjective, masculine singular absolute
equal	דַּלְי֣וּ dal.Yu	H1809	to slacken or be feeble · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
parable	וּ֝מָשָׁ֗ל u.ma.Shal	H4912	properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
mouth	בְּפִ֣י be.Fi	H6310	the mouth (as the means of blowing) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
fools	כְסִילִֽים khe.si.Lim	H3684	properly · adjective, masculine plural 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 26:9 As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Psalms 64:8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.
Proverbs 17:7 Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
Psalms 50:16-21 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
Matthew 7:4-5 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Luke 4:23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 26:6-9

To recommend wisdom to us, and to quicken us to the diligent use of all the means for the getting of wisdom, Solomon here shows that fools are fit for nothing; they are either sottish men, who will never think and design at all, or vicious men, who will never think and design well. 1. They are not fit to be entrusted with any business, not fit to go on an errand (Pro 26:6): He that does but send a message by the hand of a fool, of a careless heedless person, one who is so full of his jests and so given to his pleasures that he cannot apply his mind to any thing that is serious, will find his message misunderstood, the one half of it forgotten, the rest awkwardly delivered, and so many blunde…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 26:7

legs . . . equal--or, "take away the legs," or "the legs . . . are weak." In any case the idea is that they are the occasion of an awkwardness, such as the fool shows in using a parable or proverb (see Introduction; Pro 17:7).

John Gill on Proverbs 26:7

The legs of the lame are not equal,.... Or as "the lifting up the legs by one that is lame" (m), to dance to a pipe or violin, is very unseemly, and does but the more expose his infirmity, and can give no pleasure to others, but causes derision and contempt; so is a parable in the mouth of fools; an apophthegm, or sententious expression of his own, which he delivers out as a wise saying, but is lame and halts; it is not consistent with itself, but like the legs of a lame man, one higher than the other: or one of the proverbs of this book, or rather any passage of Scripture, in the mouth of a wicked man; or any religious discourse of his is very unsuitable, since his life and conversation do…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 26:7

7 The hanging down of the legs of a lame man; And a proverb in a fool's mouth. With reference to the obscure דּליוּ, the following views have been maintained: - (1) The form as punctuated appears directly as an imperative. Thus the lxx translate, the original text of which is here: ἀφελοῦ πορείαν κυλλῶν (conj. Lagarde's) καὶ παροιμίαν ἐκ στόματος ἀφρόνων, which the Syr. (with its imitator, the Targ.) has rendered positively: "If thou canst give the power of (sound) going to the lame, then wilt thou also receive (prudent) words from the mouth of a fool." Since Kimchi, דּליוּ has been regarded by many as the softening of the Imp. Piel דּדּוּ, according to which the Venet. translates:…

The Church Fathers

Lame in his feet and drinking iniquity, etc. It may happen that any wise person sends a fool on a mission, not knowing that he is a fool; yet he does not lose the glory of his wisdom, since he believed in the good from the unknown, which he had heard. But he who knowingly sends a heretic to preach to the people is lame in his feet and drinks iniquity, because he has lost both the outward walk of good work and the inner sense, being drunk on foolishness.
— 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

Fool · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Speaking · FOLLY IN — FOLLY 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).

Proverbs 26:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 26:6-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 26:7

John Gill on Proverbs 26:7

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 26:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 26:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 26:6-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 26:7

John Gill on Proverbs 26:7

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 26:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 26:7

Rashi on Proverbs 26:7