Proverbs 26:9
in Proverbs 26Like a thorn that falls into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
As a thorn that goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, So is a parable in the mouth of fools.
KJV
As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
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This verse in Proverbs 26
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThe sin of all people is not taken away by the Lamb if they neither grieve nor are tormented till it be taken away. For since thorns have not only been sown but have also taken deep root in the hands of everyone who has become drunk because of evil, and has lost sobriety, according to what is said in Proverbs, "Thorns grow in the hand of the drunkard." So what must we say in addition regarding the extent of distress they produce in him who has received such plants into the body of his own soul?
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 Medieval Church2 voices
Now the boards [of the tabernacle] were made out of acacia wood, that is, a thorny sort [of wood], and according to the Savior's pronouncement thorns are the cares of this world, its pleasures, riches and false delights. But the pricks of sins may also …
As if a thorn should spring forth in the hand of a drunkard, etc. A thorn springs forth in the hand of a drunkard when, in his works, who serves carnal seductions, the pricks of sins arise. To these rightly is compared a parable which …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Better: “As a thorn which is lifted up in the hand of the drunkard” etc. As such a weapon so used may do mischief to the man himself or to others, so may the sharp, keen-edged proverb when used by one who does not understand it.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ח֭וֹחַ | choach | thorn[s] | H2336 → | |
| עָלָ֣ה | ʾalah | it goes up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| בְיַד־ | veyad- | in [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| שִׁכּ֑וֹר | shikor | a drunkard | H7910 → | |
| וּ֝מָשָׁ֗ל | umashal | and a proverb | H4912 → | 39 times |
| בְּפִ֣י | befi | in [the] mouth of | H6310 → | 498 times |
| כְסִילִֽים׃ | khesilim | fools | H3684 → | 70 times |
ח֭וֹחַthorn[s]
choachH2336 →
עָלָ֣הit goes up
ʾalahH5927 →890 times
בְיַד־in [the] hand of
veyad-H3027 →1618 times
שִׁכּ֑וֹרa drunkard
shikorH7910 →
וּ֝מָשָׁ֗לand a proverb
umashalH4912 →39 times
בְּפִ֣יin [the] mouth of
befiH6310 →498 times
כְסִילִֽים׃fools
khesilimH3684 →70 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
Proverbs 23:35“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 5:3
O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than…
- Isaiah 56:12
“Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”
- 1 Corinthians 15:32–34
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
- Proverbs 27:22
Though you grind a fool like grain with mortar and a pestle, yet his folly will not depart from him.
- Isaiah 22:13
But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
- Jeremiah 5:3
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); Bede, On the Tabernacle 2:5; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6:297-98.