Proverbs 26:3
As a whip for a horse, and a goad for an ass, so is a rod for a simple nation.
LXX2012 (US English)
In The King James Version
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.
In Context
2As birds and sparrows fly, so a curse shall not come upon any one without a cause.
4Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you become like him.
Cross References
Judges 8:5And he said to the men of Socchoth, Give, I pray you, bread to feed this people that follow me; because they are faint, and behold, I am following after Zebee and Salmana, kings of Madiam.
Proverbs 10:13He that brings forth wisdom from his lips smites the + 10:13 Lit. heartless man, Hebraism. fool with a rod.
Proverbs 19:25When a pestilent character is scourged, a simple man is made wiser: and if you reprove a wise man, he will understand discretion.
Proverbs 27:22Though you scourge a fool, disgracing him in the midst of the council, you will still in no wise remove his folly from him.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 26:3
2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. Here is, 1. The folly of passion. It makes men scatter causeless curses, wishing ill to others upon presumption that they are bad and have done ill, when either they mistake the person or misunderstand the fact, or they call evil good and good evil. Give honour to a fool, and he thunders out his anathemas against all that he is disgusted with, right or wrong. Great men, when wicked, think they have a privilege to keep… Read the whole commentary →