Like the legs of the lame that hang loose, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Parallel Translations
-
Like the legs of the lame that hang loose, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
-
The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
-
The legs hang limp from the lame; so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Proverbs 26:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 26:9 Like a thorn bush that goes into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
- Psalms 64:8 Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.
- Proverbs 17:7 Arrogant speech isn’t fitting for a fool, much less do lying lips fit a prince.
- Psalms 50:16-21 But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips, since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers. “You give your mouth to evil. Your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son. You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.
- Matthew 7:4-5 Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.
- Luke 4:23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’ ”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 26:7 The legs of the lame are not…
Pro 26:7 The legs of the lame are not equal: so [is] a parable in the mouth of fools.
Ver. 7. The legs of the lame are not equal.] Locum habet proverbium cum is qui male vivit, bene loquitur, saith an interpreter. {a} This proverb hits such as speak well, but live otherwise. Uniformity and ubiquity of obedience are sure signs of sincerity; but as [an] unequal pulse argues a distempered body, so doth uneven walking show a diseased soul. A wise man’s life is all of one colour, like itself; and godliness runs through it, as the woof runs through the warp. But if all the parts of the line of thy life be not straight before God, it is a crooked life. If thy tongue speak by the talent, but thine hands scarce work by the ounce, thou shalt pass for a Pharisee. {Mat 23:3} They spake like angels, lived like devils; had heaven commonly at their tongue ends, but the earth continually at their finger ends. Odi homines ignava opera, philosopha sententia, said the heathen; that is, I hate such hypocrites as have mouths full of holiness, hearts full of hollowness. A certain stranger coming on embassy to the senate of Rome, and colouring his hoary hair and pale cheeks with vermilion hue, a grave senator espying the deceit, stood up and said, ‘What sincerity are we to expect at this man’s hand, whose locks, and looks, and lips do lie?’
Read full note →
{a} Rodulph. Bain.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The legs of the lame are not equal, Heb.…
The legs of the lame are not equal, Heb. As (which note of similitude is plainly understood from the particle so in the following clause) the legs of the lame are lifted up, to wit, in going, or rather in dancing, which is done with great inequality and uncomeliness.
So is a parable in the mouth of fools; no less absurd and indecent are wise and pious speeches from a foolish and ungodly man, whose actions grossly contradict them, whereby he makes them contemptible, and himself ridiculous.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The legs of the lame are not equal,.... Or…
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 not agree with it; it is as disagreeable to hear such a man talk of religious affairs as it is to see a lame man dance; or whose legs imitate buckets at a well, where one goes up and another down, as Gussetius (n) interprets the word.
Read full note →
(m) "elevatio crurum a claudo facta", Gejerus, Michaelis. (n) "Femora claudi imitantur situlas", Gussetius, p. 188. "situlas agunt crura ex claudio", Schultens; "instar binarum sitularum in puteo alternatium adscendentium ac descendentium", Gejerus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The legs - Hebrew. the legs of the lame…
The legs - Hebrew. the legs of the lame are lifted up, in going, or in dancing, which is done with great inequality and uncomeliness. So - No less incident are wise and pious speeches from a foolish and ungodly man.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 26:7. The legs of the lame are not…
Pro 26:7. The legs of the lame are not equal — Hebrew, דליו, are lifted up, namely, in going, which is done with great inequality and uncomeliness; so is a parable in the mouth of fools — No less absurd and indecent are wise and pious speeches from a foolish and ungodly man, whose actions grossly contradict them, whereby he makes them contemptible, and himself ridiculous.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Or, Take away the legs of the lame man,…
Or, Take away the legs of the lame man, and the parable that is in the mouth of fools: both are alike useless to their possessors. Other meanings are:
(1) “The legs of the lame man are feeble, so is parable in the mouth of fools.”
Read full note →
(2) “the lifting up of the legs of a lame man, i. e., his attempts at dancing, are as the parable in the mouth of fools.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Fair. Hebrew, "unequal legs," or "lifted up," so, &c.…
Fair. Hebrew, "unequal legs," or "lifted up," so, &c. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain legs . . . equal--or, "take away the legs,"…
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).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Legs… not equal — The root of דליו,…
7. Legs… not equal — The root of דליו, (dalyu,) translated not equal, is uncertain. Hence we have the following: 1. As the legs of the lame are weak, so a proverb, etc. 2. Take away the legs of a lame man, and so take away a proverb, etc. 3. The legs hang down from the lame, etc. 4. The legs drag after the lame, etc. Each of these is favoured by different authorities. Forms from the supposed root are sometimes rendered in our Version in the sense of exalted, lifted up, etc. (See margin; also Psa_30:1.) Hence Patrick says: “As the word dalyu signifies something of elevation or lifting up, I have explained it of dancing,” which explanation, as it is curious, we give: “A wise saying as ill becomes a fool as dancing doth a cripple; for as his lameness never so much appears as when he would seem nimble, the other’s folly is never so ridiculous as when he would seem wise.” A good sense, whether it is that of the proverb or not.
Parable — משׁל, (mashal,) the same word is rendered proverb in this book. See on Pro_1:1.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. are not equal] Rather, hang loose, R.V. The…
7. are not equal] Rather, hang loose, R.V. The strongest members of the body and the weightiest aphorisms of wisdom are alike useless appendages to one who lacks the power to turn them to account.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) The legs of the lame are not equal.—Better,…
(7) The legs of the lame are not equal.—Better, perhaps. The legs hang down from a lame man, and so is a parable (useless) in the mouth of fools; they can make no more use of it for the guidance of themselves or others, than can a lame man use his legs. (Comp. Luk_8:10.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The legs of a lame man are not equal.…
The legs of a lame man are not equal. The first word of this verse, WylD, has occasioned some difficulty. It is considered as an imperative from hld, "draw off," "take away." Thus the Septuagint, afelou ; Venetian, eparate . But the verb seems never to have this meaning; nor, if it had, would the sense be very satisfactory, for. as Delitzsch points out, lame legs are better than none, and there is a great difference between the perfectly crippled or paralytic who has to be carried, and the lame man (jSepi) who can limp or get along on crutches., And when we explain the proverb in this sense (as Plumptre), "Take away the legs of the lame man and the parable from the mouth of fools," for both alike ere useless to their possessors, and their loss would not be felt we must recognize that the conclusion is not true. No one would think of amputating s man"s legs simply because he was lame, and such a one"s legs cannot be considered absolutely useless. Others regard the word as third plural kal, "the legs hang loose;" though the form is not sufficiently accounted for. All explanations of the word as a verbal form have such difficulties, that some take it as a noun, meaning "dancing," which is Luther"s interpretation, "as dancing to a cripple, so it becometh a fool to talk of wisdom." But the word could never sightly anything but "limping," and could not express the elegant motion of dancing. The Authorized Version considers the Hebrew to mean, "are lifted up," i.e. are unequal, one being longer or stronger than the other; but this loses the force of the comparison. There seems to be no better interpretation than that mentioned above," The legs of the lame hang loose," i.e. are unserviceable, however sound in appearance. St. Jerome has expressed this, though in a strange fashion, "As it is vain for a lame man to have seemly legs." So is a parable in the mouth of a fool. "Parable" (mashal), sententious saying, the enunciation of which, as well as the recital of stories, was always a great feature in Eastern companies, and afforded a test of a man"s ability. A fool fails in the exhibition; he misses the point of the wise saying which he produces; it falls lame from his mouth, affords no instruction to others, and makes no way with its hearers. Siracides gives another reason for the incongruity, "A parable shall be rejected when it cometh out of a fool"s mouth; for he will not speak it in its season" (Ecc 20:20). Septuagint, "Take away the motion of legs, and transgression (paranomian , ? paroimian , Lag.) from the mouth of fools."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Like the legs ... is a proverb in the…
Like the legs ... is a proverb in the mouth of fools
The phrases can be reordered. AT: "A proverb in the mouth of fools is like the legs of a paralytic which hang down" or "A proverb in the mouth of fools is as useless as the legs of a paralytic which hang down" (See: Simile)
Read full note →
a paralytic
a person who is unable to move or feel all or part of his body
in the mouth of fools
Here "mouth" is a metonym for speaking. AT: "in the speech of fools" or "that fools say" (See: Metonymy)
tying a stone in a sling
In order to throw a stone very far, people put it into a sling and swing the sling so that the stone will fly from it very quickly. The result of tying a stone in a sling can be stated clearly. AT: "tying a stone in a sling so that it cannot be thrown" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
giving honor to a fool
"honoring a fool"
translationWords
proverb
stone
honor
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 26:7 A fool might know a proverb but not…
26:7 A fool might know a proverb but not be able to use it correctly. Cp. 26:9.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.