Proverbs 26:19

19 Are worse than careless campers who walk away from smoldering campfires.

Proverbs 26:19 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 26:19

So [is] the man [that] deceiveth his neighbour
By telling him a lie; or by reporting false things concerning him; or by cheating him in trade and commerce; or by taking his goods privately from him; and, when caught in either of these, and saith, Am not I in sport?
do not be angry, I designed no hurt; it is all in jest, a mere joke: but, had he not been apprehended, it would have been in earnest, as he was. This is only an excuse, and as absurd an one as if a man should set fire to his neighbour's house and barns, or throw arrows at him, or strike him with any instrument of death, as the sword and then say he was only in jest, or pretend madness.

Proverbs 26:19 In-Context

17 You grab a mad dog by the ears when you butt into a quarrel that's none of your business.

18 People who shrug off deliberate deceptions, saying, "I didn't mean it, I was only joking,"

19 Are worse than careless campers who walk away from smoldering campfires.

20 When you run out of wood, the fire goes out; when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.

21 A quarrelsome person in a dispute is like kerosene thrown on a fire.