He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.
Parallel translations
- WEB One who sends a message by the hand of a fool is cutting off feet and drinking violence.
- BSB Like cutting off one’s own feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.
- NKJV He who sends a message by the hand of a fool Cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.
- NASB One who sends a message by the hand of a fool Chops off his own feet and drinks violence.
- NLT Trusting a fool to convey a message is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison!
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
Sending a message by a fool is self-defeating, like cutting off your own feet. Entrusting important tasks to the unreliable invites harm.
Overview
To rely on a fool as a messenger is to sabotage your own purposes and invite trouble upon yourself. The proverb stresses the importance of trustworthy agents in any undertaking. It commends careful discernment about whom we entrust with responsibility.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Prov 10:26As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.
- Prov 25:13As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.
- Prov 13:17A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.
- Num 13:31But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
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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 26:6 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
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