proverbs 26

Read Proverbs 26 at Bible Gateway.

Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Pro 25:21-26:21 {p} Proverbs concerning uselessness
Pro 26:21-27:22 {p} Betrayal and loyalty: what is in the heart will reveal itself in due time

Pro 25:21-26:21 {p} chiastic structure:

1a) Pro 25:21-25, Kindness is like a drink of cold water, but contentions kindle strife;

1a) Pro 25:21-22, If your enemy is hungry + thirsty, give him bread to eat + water to drink/ For you will heap coals of fire on his head + the LORD will reward you;
1b) Pro 25:23, The north wind brings forth rain + a backbiting tongue an angry countenance;
central axis) Pro 25:24a, It is better to dwell in a corner of a housetop;
2b) Pro 25:24b, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman;
2a) Pro 25:25, As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country;

1b) Pro 25:26-28, It is not good to seek your own glory;

1a) Pro 25:26, A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring + polluted well;
central axis) Pro 25:27, It is not good to eat much honey; so to seek one’s own glory is not glory;
2a) Pro 25:28, Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls;

1c) Pro 26:1-5, Honor does not suit a fool + curse without cause/ stopping a fool/ a fool and his folly;

1) Pro 26:1, As snow in summer and rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool;
2) Pro 26:2, Like a flitting sparrow + flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight;
3) Pro 26:3, A whip + bridle for the horse + donkey/ And a rod for the fool’s back;
4) Pro 26:4-5, Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him/ Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes;

central axis) Pro 26:6, He who sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off his own feet + drinks violence;

2c) Pro 26:7-11 Mouth of fools + honor does not suit him/ stopping a fool/ a fool and his folly;

2) Pro 26:7,9 Like the legs of the lame + a thorn into a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of fools;
1) Pro 26:8, Like one who binds a stone in a sling is he who gives honor to a fool;
3) Pro 26:10, The great performs all things, but he that stops a fool is as one who stops a flood;
4) Pro 26:11, As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly;

2b) Pro 26:12-16, It is not good to be wise in your own eyes;

1a) Pro 26:12, Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him;
central axis) Pro 26:13-15, The uselessness of a lazy man;
2a) Pro 26:16, The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly;

2a) Pro 26:17-21 {p} Wood fuels a fire as contentions kindle strife;

1a) Pro 26:17, A passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears;
1b) Pro 26:18, Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death;
1c) Pro 26:19a, Is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, “I was only joking!”
central axis) Pro 26:20a, Where there is no wood, the fire goes out;
2c) Pro 26:20b, And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases;
2b) Pro 26:21a, As charcoal is to burning coals + wood to fire, so is a contentious man;
2a) Pro 26:21b {p} To kindle strife.

What fuels quarrels and strife:

Contentions: not being satisfied with one’s possessions, status, or situation;
Backbiting: saying mean or spiteful things;
Speaking falsehoods and then evading responsibility by saying, “I was kidding;”
Talebearing or gossip.

What fuels strife all involves the mouth; these things are truly the province of the mouth of fools.