the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Complete Jewish Bible
Proverbs 26:5
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- InternationalParallel Translations
Answer a fool according to his foolishnessor he’ll become wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool as his foolishness deserves, So that he will not be wise in his own eyes.
Answer fools when they speak foolishly, or they will think they are really wise.
Answer [and correct the erroneous concepts of] a fool according to his folly, Otherwise he will be wise in his own eyes [if he thinks you agree with him].
Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Answere a foole according to his foolishnes, least he be wise in his owne conceite.
Answer a fool according to his folly,Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.
But if you answer any fools, show how foolish they are, so they won't feel smart.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
But answer a fool according to your wisdom, lest he think in himself that he is wise.
Give a silly answer to a silly question, and the one who asked it will realize that he's not as smart as he thinks.
Answer a fool according to his folly, or else he will be wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool according to his foolishness, that he not be wise in his own eyes.
but make ye foole an answere to his foolishnesse, lest he be wyse in his owne coceate.
Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Give a foolish man a foolish answer, or he will seem wise to himself.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Answere a foole according to his folly, lest hee be wise in his owne conceit.
But make the foole an aunswere to his foolishnesse, lest he be wyse in his owne conceipt.
lest they drink, and forget wisdom, and be not able to judge the poor rightly.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Answere thou a fool bi his fooli, lest he seme to him silf to be wijs.
Answer a fool according to his folly, Or else he will be wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own estimation.
Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation.
Answer a fool in the way he has earned by his foolish acts, so he will not be wise in his own eyes.
Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes.
Answer a dullard according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he imagine himself to be wise.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Answer a fool in simple terms so he doesn't get a swelled head.
Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
a fool: 1 Kings 22:24-28, Jeremiah 36:17, Jeremiah 36:18, Matthew 15:1-3, Matthew 16:1-4, Matthew 21:23-27, Matthew 22:15-32, Luke 12:13-21, Luke 13:23-30, John 8:7, John 9:26-33, Titus 1:13
lest: Proverbs 26:12, Proverbs 28:11, Romans 11:25
conceit: Heb. eyes, Isaiah 5:21, Romans 12:16
Reciprocal: Proverbs 23:9 - Speak Matthew 21:24 - I also Matthew 22:22 - they marvelled Mark 11:33 - Neither Luke 20:8 - General Luke 20:26 - they could Luke 20:40 - General John 8:49 - I have not Colossians 4:6 - how
Cross-References
So Avram went, as Adonai had said to him, and Lot went with him. Avram was 75 years old when he left Haran.
Avraham took Yishma‘el his son, all the slaves born in his house and all who had been bought with his money, every male among the people in Avraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin that very day, just as God had said to him.
For I have made myself known to him, so that he will give orders to his children and to his household after him to keep the way of Adonai and to do what is right and just, so that Adonai may bring about for Avraham what he has promised him."
He said, "I have sworn by myself — says Adonai — that because you have done this, because you haven't withheld your son, your only son,
and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — because you obeyed my order."
A famine came over the land, not the same as the first famine, which had taken place when Avraham was alive. Yitz'chak went to G'rar, to Avimelekh king of the P'lishtim.
Adonai appeared to him and said, "Don't go down into Egypt, but live where I tell you.
(ii) So Yitz'chak settled in G'rar.
So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
"So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Answer a fool according to his folly,.... The Targum is,
"but speak with a fool in thy wisdom;''
and the Syriac version,
"yea, speak with a fool according to thy wisdom;''
which would at once remove the seeming contradiction in these words to the former, but then they are not a true version; indeed it is right, and must be the sense, that when a fool is answered, as it is sometimes necessary he should, that it be done in wisdom, and so as to expose his folly; he is to be answered and not answered according to different times, places, and circumstances, and manner of answering; he is to be answered when there is any hope of doing him good, or of doing good to others; or of preventing ill impressions being made upon others by what he has said; when the glory of God, the good of the church, and the cause of truth, require it; and when he would otherwise glory and triumph, as if his words or works were unanswerable, as follow;
lest he be wise in his own conceit; which fools are apt to be, and the rather when no answer is given them; imagining it arises from the strength of their arguments, and their nervous way of reasoning, when it is rather from a neglect and contempt of them.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Two sides of a truth. To âanswer a fool according to his follyâ is in Proverbs 26:4 to bandy words with him, to descend to his level of coarse anger and vile abuse; in Proverbs 26:5 it is to say the right word at the right time, to expose his unwisdom and untruth to others and to himself, not by a teaching beyond his reach, but by words that he is just able to apprehend. The apparent contradiction between the two verses led some of the rabbis to question the canonical authority of this book. The Pythagoreans had maxims expressing a truth in precepts seemingly contradictory.
