Proverbs 26:3
in Proverbs 26A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, And a rod for the back of fools.
KJV
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.
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This verse in Proverbs 26
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The rod is as much needed by fools and as well suited to them, as whips and bridles are for beasts. Answer not--that is, approvingly by like folly.
This site's exposition
As snow in summer
on Proverbs 26:1-3
The chapter opens a portrait gallery of the fool, eleven proverbs hung in a row, and the first three set the method: comparison. Honour on a fool is weather out of season, snow in summer and rain in harvest, wrong and damaging at once; the causeless curse flies off like the sparrow and lands nowhere. The rod for the fool's back completes a working set with the whip and the bridle, and the commentators note the grim placement: what guides a horse and an ass must correct the man who will not be guided by words.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The Gentiles praise Thee that Thy Word has become a mirror before them, that in it they might see death, secretly swallowing up their lives. But graven images were being adorned by their artificers; and by their adornments were disfiguring their adorners. But Thou didst …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
A whip for the horse,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A whip for the horse - Correction is as suitable to a fool, as a whip is for a horse, or a bridle for an ass.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שׁ֣וֹט | shot | a whip | H7752 → | |
| לַ֭סּוּס | lasus | for <the> horse | H5483 → | |
| מֶ֣תֶג | meteg | a bridle | H4964 → | |
| לַחֲמ֑וֹר | lachamor | for <the> a donkey | H2543 → | |
| וְ֝שֵׁ֗בֶט | veshevet | and a rod | H7626 → | 190 times |
| לְגֵ֣ו | legev | for [the] back of | H1460 → | 7 times |
| כְּסִילִֽים׃ | kesilim | fools | H3684 → | 70 times |
שׁ֣וֹטa whip
shotH7752 →
לַ֭סּוּסfor <the> horse
lasusH5483 →
מֶ֣תֶגa bridle
metegH4964 →
לַחֲמ֑וֹרfor <the> a donkey
lachamorH2543 →
וְ֝שֵׁ֗בֶטand a rod
veshevetH7626 →190 times
לְגֵ֣וfor [the] back of
legevH1460 →7 times
כְּסִילִֽים׃fools
kesilimH3684 →70 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
1 Corinthians 4:21Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 13:2
I already warned you the second time I was with you. So now in my absence I warn those who sinned earlier and everyone else: If I return, I will not spare anyone,
- 2 Corinthians 13:10
This is why I write these things while absent, so that when I am present I will not need to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord gave me for…
- 2 Corinthians 13:2
Through
Psalms 32:9Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:22
“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Job 35:11
who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
- James 4:7–10
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Jeremiah 8:6–7
I have listened and heard; they do not speak what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, asking, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone has pursued his own course like a horse charging into…
- James 3:3
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can guide the whole animal.
- Jeremiah 4:22
Through
Proverbs 19:25Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware; rebuke the discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.
it leads to
- Proverbs 21:11
When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; and when a wise man is instructed, he acquires knowledge.
- Proverbs 21:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Ephrem the Syrian, HOMILY ON OUR LORD 5:1-2; 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).