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Read the Bible

King James Version

Proverbs 26:2

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Malice;   The Topic Concordance - Curses;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Birds;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Curse, Accursed;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Swallow;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Bird;   Swallow;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birds;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Greek Versions of Ot;   Proverbs, Book of;   Swallow;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Blessing (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Swallow;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Swallows;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Sparrow;   Swallow;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Birds;   Blessing and Cursing;   Cursing;   Swallow;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Like a flitting sparrow or a fluttering swallow,an undeserved curse goes nowhere.
Hebrew Names Version
Like a fluttering sparrow, Like a darting swallow, So the undeserved curse doesn't come to rest.
English Standard Version
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.
New American Standard Bible
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, So a curse without cause does not come to rest.
New Century Version
Curses will not harm someone who is innocent; they are like sparrows or swallows that fly around and never land.
Amplified Bible
Like the sparrow in her wandering, like the swallow in her flying, So the curse without cause does not come and alight [on the undeserving].
World English Bible
Like a fluttering sparrow, Like a darting swallow, So the undeserved curse doesn't come to rest.
Geneva Bible (1587)
As the sparowe by flying, and the swallow by flying escape, so the curse that is causeles, shall not come.
Legacy Standard Bible
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in flying,So a curse without cause does not come to pass.
Berean Standard Bible
Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
Contemporary English Version
A curse you don't deserve will take wings and fly away like a sparrow or a swallow.
Complete Jewish Bible
Like a fluttering sparrow or a flying swallow, an undeserved curse will come home to roost.
Darby Translation
As the sparrow for flitting about, as the swallow for flying, so a curse undeserved shall not come.
Easy-to-Read Version
Don't worry when someone curses you for no reason. Nothing bad will happen. Such words are like birds that fly past and never stop.
George Lamsa Translation
Like sparrows wandering and like birds flying in the air, so the curse that is causeless shall be driven away.
Good News Translation
Curses cannot hurt you unless you deserve them. They are like birds that fly by and never light.
Lexham English Bible
Like the sparrow is to fluttering and like the swallow is to flying, so an undeserved curse does not go forth.
Literal Translation
As the wandering bird, as the swallow in its flying, so the causeless curse shall never come.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Like as ye byrde and the swalowe take their flight and fle here and there, so the curse that is geuen in vayne, shal not light vpon a man.
American Standard Version
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, So the curse that is causeless alighteth not.
Bible in Basic English
As the sparrow in her wandering and the swallow in her flight, so the curse does not come without a cause.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
As the wandering sparrow, as the flying swallow, so the curse that is causeless shall come home.
King James Version (1611)
As the bird by wandring, as the swallow by flying: so the curse causelesse shall not come.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
As the byrde and the swalowe take their flight and flee here and there: so the curse that is geuen in vayne, shall not light vpon a man.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
What wilt thou keep, my son, what? the words of God. My firstborn son, I speak to thee: what? son of my womb? what? son of my vows?
English Revised Version
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, so the curse that is causeless lighteth not.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For whi as a brid fliynge ouer to hiy thingis, and a sparowe goynge in to vncerteyn; so cursing brouyt forth with out resonable cause schal come aboue in to sum man.
Update Bible Version
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, So the curse that is causeless does not come.
Webster's Bible Translation
As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
New English Translation
Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause does not come to rest.
New King James Version
Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.
New Living Translation
Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim.
New Life Bible
Like a sparrow in its traveling, like a swallow in its flying, so bad words said against someone without reason do not come to rest.
New Revised Standard
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, an undeserved curse goes nowhere.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
As a sparrow in wandering, as a swallow in flying, so, a causeless curse, shall not alight.
Douay-Rheims Bible
As a bird flying to other places, and a sparrow going here or there: so a curse uttered without cause shall come upon a man.
Revised Standard Version
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.
Young's Literal Translation
As a bird by wandering, as a swallow by flying, So reviling without cause doth not come.
THE MESSAGE
You have as little to fear from an undeserved curse as from the dart of a wren or the swoop of a swallow.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, So a curse without cause does not alight.

Contextual Overview

2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

so: Numbers 23:8, Deuteronomy 23:4, Deuteronomy 23:5, 1 Samuel 14:28, 1 Samuel 14:29, 1 Samuel 17:43, 2 Samuel 16:12, Nehemiah 13:2, Psalms 109:28

Reciprocal: Numbers 22:6 - I wot Numbers 23:7 - Come Deuteronomy 18:22 - shalt not 2 Samuel 16:5 - cursed Jeremiah 15:10 - curse Ezekiel 14:23 - that I have not 2 Corinthians 13:8 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 12:1
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Genesis 12:7
And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord , who appeared unto him.
Genesis 17:1
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Genesis 18:1
And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
Genesis 26:10
And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
Genesis 26:20
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
Psalms 37:3
Trust in the Lord , and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying,.... As a bird, particularly the sparrow, as the word h is sometimes rendered, leaves its nest and wanders from it; and flies here and there, and settles nowhere; and as the swallow flies to the place from whence it came; or the wild pigeon, as some i think is meant, which flies away very swiftly: the swallow has its name in Hebrew from liberty, because it flies about boldly and freely, and makes its nest in houses, to which it goes and comes without fear;

so the curse causeless shall not come; the mouths of fools or wicked men are full of cursing and bitterness, and especially such who are advanced above others, and are set in high places; who think they have a right to swear at and curse those below them, and by this means to support their authority and power; but what signify their curses which are without a cause? they are vain and fruitless, like Shimei's cursing David; they fly away, as the above birds are said to do, and fly over the heads of those on whom they are designed to light; yea, return and fall upon the heads of those that curse, as the swallow goes to the place from whence it came; it being a bird of passage, Jeremiah 8:7; in the winter it flies away and betakes itself to some islands on rocks called from thence "chelidonian" k. According to the "Keri", or marginal reading, for here is a double reading, it may be rendered, "so the curse causeless shall come to him" l; that gives it without any reason. The Septuagint takes in both,

"so a vain curse shall not come upon any;''

what are all the anathemas of the church of Rome? who can curse whom God has not cursed? yea, such shall be cursed themselves; see

Psalms 109:17.

h כצפור "sicat passeris", Mercerus, Gejerus; "ut passer", Piscator; Schultens. i Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 1. c. 8. k Vid. Strabo. Geograph. l. 14. p. 458. Dionys. Perieg. v. 506, 507. l לו "in quempiam", V. L.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

i. e., “Vague as the flight of the sparrow, aimless as the wheelings of the swallow, is the causeless curse. It will never reach its goal.” The marginal reading in the Hebrew, however, gives” to him” instead of “not” or “never;” i. e., “The causeless curse, though it may pass out of our ken, like a bird’s track in the air, will come on the man who utters it.” Compare the English proverb, “Curses, like young chickens, always come home to roost.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 26:2. As the bird — צפור tsippor is taken often for the sparrow; but means generally any small bird. As the sparrow flies about the house, and the swallow emigrates to strange countries; so an undeserved malediction may flutter about the neighbourhood for a season: but in a short time it will disappear as the bird of passage; and never take effect on the innocent person against whom it was pronounced.


 
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