A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.
Parallel translations
- WEB A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools!
- BSB A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!
- NKJV A whip for the horse, A bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the fool’s back.
- NASB A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the back of fools.
- NLT Guide a horse with a whip, a donkey with a bridle, and a fool with a rod to his back!
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
A fool needs discipline just as a horse needs a whip and a donkey a bridle. Folly is corrected by appropriate restraint.
Overview
The proverb soberly observes that those who reject reason may only respond to discipline, as animals respond to guidance and the rod. It is descriptive of fallen folly rather than an endorsement of harshness. It underscores the value of correction, which God in love also applies to his children (Heb 12:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 10:13In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.
- 1 Cor 4:21What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
- Ps 32:9Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
- Prov 19:29Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.
- 2 Cor 13:2I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:
- 2 Cor 10:6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
- Judg 8:5–7And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.
- Prov 19:25Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.
- Prov 27:22Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
- Prov 17:10A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
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 26:3 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.