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Read the Bible

English Standard Version

Proverbs 26:7

Like a lame man's legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Fool;   Speaking;   The Topic Concordance - Foolishness;   Parables;   Speech/communication;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Parable;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Greek Versions of Ot;   Parable;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Spiritualizing of the Parables;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Lame;   Leg;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Lame;   Leg;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A proverb in the mouth of a foolis like lame legs that hang limp.
Hebrew Names Version
Like the legs of the lame that hang loose: So is a parable in the mouth of fools.
King James Version
The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
New American Standard Bible
Like useless legs to one who cannot walk, So is a proverb in the mouths of fools.
New Century Version
A wise saying spoken by a fool is as useless as the legs of a crippled person.
Amplified Bible
Like the legs which are useless to the lame, So is a proverb in the mouth of a fool [who cannot learn from its wisdom].
World English Bible
Like the legs of the lame that hang loose: So is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Geneva Bible (1587)
As they that lift vp the legs of the lame, so is a parable in a fooles mouth.
Legacy Standard Bible
Like the legs which hang limp on the lame,So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
Berean Standard Bible
Like lame legs hanging limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
Contemporary English Version
A fool with words of wisdom is like an athlete with legs that can't move.
Complete Jewish Bible
The legs of the disabled hang limp and useless; likewise a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
Darby Translation
The legs of the lame hang loose; so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
Easy-to-Read Version
A fool trying to say something wise is like a crippled person trying to walk.
George Lamsa Translation
As a lame man who cannot walk, so is a parable in the mouth of a fool.
Good News Translation
A fool can use a proverb about as well as crippled people can use their legs.
Lexham English Bible
Like legs that hang limp from a lame person, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
Literal Translation
As the legs of the lame are weak, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Like as it is an vnsemely thige to haue legges & yet to halte, eue so is a parable in ye fooles mouth.
American Standard Version
The legs of the lame hang loose; So is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Bible in Basic English
The legs of one who has no power of walking are hanging loose; so is a wise saying in the mouth of the foolish.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The legs hang limp from the lame; so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
King James Version (1611)
The legges of the lame are not equall: so is a parable in the mouth of fooles.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Like as in a lame man his legges are not equall: euen so is a parable in a fooles mouth.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
that they may forget their poverty, and may not remember their troubles any more.
English Revised Version
The legs of the lame hang loose: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
As an haltinge man hath faire leggis in veyn; so a parable is vnsemeli in the mouth of foolis.
Update Bible Version
[As] the legs hang loose from a cripple: So is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Webster's Bible Translation
The legs of the lame are not equal: so [is] a parable in the mouth of fools.
New English Translation
Like legs that hang limp from the lame, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
New King James Version
Like the legs of the lame that hang limp Is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
New Living Translation
A proverb in the mouth of a fool is as useless as a paralyzed leg.
New Life Bible
A wise saying in the mouth of fools is like the legs on a man who cannot walk.
New Revised Standard
The legs of a disabled person hang limp; so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Useless are the legs of the lame, and a proverb, in the mouth of a dullard.
Douay-Rheims Bible
As a lame man hath fair legs in vain: so a parable is unseemly in the mouth of fools.
Revised Standard Version
Like a lame man's legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
Young's Literal Translation
Weak have been the two legs of the lame, And a parable in the mouth of fools.
THE MESSAGE
A proverb quoted by fools is limp as a wet noodle.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Like the legs which are useless to the lame, So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

Contextual Overview

6 Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off his own feet and drinks violence. 7 Like a lame man's legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools. 8 Like one who binds the stone in the sling is one who gives honor to a fool. 9 Like a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

not equal: Heb. lifted up

so: Proverbs 26:9, Proverbs 17:7, Psalms 50:16-21, Psalms 64:8, Matthew 7:4, Matthew 7:5, Luke 4:23

Reciprocal: Job 27:1 - Job

Cross-References

Genesis 12:13
Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake."
Genesis 20:2
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
Genesis 20:5
Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister'? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this."
Genesis 24:16
The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.
Genesis 26:12
And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him,
Genesis 26:13
and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.
Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
Matthew 10:28
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Colossians 3:9
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The legs of the lame are not equal,.... Or as "the lifting up the legs by one that is lame" m, to dance to a pipe or violin, is very unseemly, and does but the more expose his infirmity, and can give no pleasure to others, but causes derision and contempt;

so [is] a parable in the mouth of fools; an apophthegm, or sententious expression of his own, which he delivers out as a wise saying, but is lame and halts; it is not consistent with itself, but like the legs of a lame man, one higher than the other: or one of the proverbs of this book, or rather any passage of Scripture, in the mouth of a wicked man; or any religious discourse of his is very unsuitable, since his life and conversation do not agree with it; it is as disagreeable to hear such a man talk of religious affairs as it is to see a lame man dance; or whose legs imitate buckets at a well, where one goes up and another down, as Gussetius n interprets the word.

m דליו שוקים מפסה "elevatio crurum a claudo facta", Gejerus, Michaelis. n "Femora claudi imitantur situlas", Gussetius, p. 188. "situlas agunt crura ex claudio", Schultens; "instar binarum sitularum in puteo alternatium adscendentium ac descendentium", Gejerus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Or, Take away the legs of the lame man, and the parable that is in the mouth of fools: both are alike useless to their possessors. Other meanings are:

(1) “The legs of the lame man are feeble, so is parable in the mouth of fools.”

(2) “the lifting up of the legs of a lame man, i. e., his attempts at dancing, are as the parable in the mouth of fools.”


 
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