Proverbs 26:10
in Proverbs 26Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or passerby.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
As an archer that woundeth all, So is he that hireth a fool and he that hireth them that pass by.
KJV
The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors.
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This verse in Proverbs 26
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe great God that formed all things - Or, A great man grieveth all, and he hireth the fool, he hireth also transgressors, where this verse is very differently translated. I shall add that of Coverdale: “A man of experience discerneth all thinges well: but whoso hyreth a foole, hyreth soch one as wyl take no hede.” The רב rab may mean either the great God, or a great man: hence the two renderings, in the text and in the margin.
This site's exposition
sendeth a message by the hand of a fool
on Proverbs 26:6-10
The middle proverbs price the fool's involvement in serious business: entrust him with a message and you have cut off your own feet, honour him and you have bound the stone into the sling, where by the plain figure the stone you meant to throw stays fastened to you. A parable in the mouth of fools twice over, hanging useless as a lame man's legs, piercing the hand like the drunkard's thorn: even true words are dangerous carried by the wrong man. Verse 10's Hebrew is notoriously difficult and the versions divide; the King James gives the great God rewarding fool and transgressor alike, and the bench states the alternatives without forcing one.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The great God, that formed all things,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Various versions of this are proposed (compare Margin). Better perhaps--"Much He injures (or literally, "wounds") all who reward," &c., that is, society is injured by encouraging evil men. transgressors--may be rendered "vagrants." The word "God" is improperly supplied.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The word “God” is not in the original, and the adjective translated “great” is never used elsewhere absolutely in that sense. The simplest and best interpretation is: As the archer that woundeth everyone, so is he who hireth the fool, and he who hireth every passerby. Acting at random, entrusting matters of grave moment to men of bad repute, is as likely to do mischief as to shoot arrows at everyone.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
The Master created all The Holy One, blessed be He, created all and sustains all, the fool like the wise man. We do not need any wisdom.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רַ֥ב | rav | an archer | H7228 → | |
| מְחֽוֹלֵֽל־ | mecholel- | [who] wounds | H2490 → | |
| כֹּ֑ל | kol | everyone | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| וְשֹׂכֵ֥ר | vesokher | and [one who] hires | H7936 → | |
| כְּ֝סִ֗יל | kesil | a fool | H3684 → | 70 times |
| וְשֹׂכֵ֥ר | vesokher | and [one who] hires | H7936 → | |
| עֹבְרִֽים׃ | ʾoerim | [those who] pass by | H5674 → | 556 times |
רַ֥בan archer
ravH7228 →
מְחֽוֹלֵֽל־[who] wounds
mecholel-H2490 →
כֹּ֑לeveryone
kolH3605 →5413 times
וְשֹׂכֵ֥רand [one who] hires
vesokherH7936 →
כְּ֝סִ֗ילa fool
kesilH3684 →70 times
וְשֹׂכֵ֥רand [one who] hires
vesokherH7936 →
עֹבְרִֽים׃[those who] pass by
ʾoerimH5674 →556 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 2:6God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”
it leads to
- Psalms 62:12
and loving devotion to You, O Lord. For You will repay each man according to his deeds.
- Jeremiah 32:19
the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit…
- Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.
- 2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- Jeremiah 17:10
I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
- Psalms 62:12
Through
Proverbs 11:31If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!
it leads to
- 1 Peter 4:17–18
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
- Jeremiah 25:29
For behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword…
- 1 Corinthians 11:30–32
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
- 1 Peter 4:17–18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).