the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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New Century Version
Proverbs 26:5
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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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 [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.
but answer a fool as his folly deserves, so that he won't think he is wise.
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 Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old.
Then Abraham gathered Ishmael, all the males born in his camp, and the slaves he had bought. So that day Abraham circumcised every man and boy in his camp as God had told him to do.
I have chosen him so he would command his children and his descendants to live the way the Lord wants them to, to live right and be fair. Then I, the Lord , will give Abraham what I promised him."
and said, "The Lord says, ‘Because you did not keep back your son, your only son, from me, I make you this promise by my own name:
Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed, because you obeyed me.'"
Now there was a time of hunger in the land, besides the time of hunger that happened during Abraham's life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar to see Abimelech king of the Philistines.
The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Don't go down to Egypt, but live in the land where I tell you to live.
So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches other people not to obey that command will be the least important in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys the commands and teaches other people to obey them will be great in the kingdom of heaven.
"Everyone who hears my words and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.
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.
