An employer who hires a fool or a bystander is like an archer who shoots at random.
Parallel translations
- WEB As an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool or he who hires those who pass by.
- KJV The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors.
- BSB Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or passerby.
- NKJV The great God who formed everything Gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages.
- NASB Like an archer who wounds everyone, So is one who hires a fool or hires those who pass by.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hiring a fool or random passerby is as reckless as an archer shooting indiscriminately. Careless choices in those we employ cause widespread harm.
Overview
This verse is acknowledged to be difficult and variously translated, but the WEB rendering warns against the damage done by entrusting work to the foolish or to whoever happens by. The point is the harm of indiscriminate, careless decisions. It commends prudent care in whom we rely upon for important tasks.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Rom 2:6who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”
- Prov 11:31Behold, the righteous shall be repaid in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 26:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.