Proverbs 26:10

10 Hire a fool or a drunk and you shoot yourself in the foot.

Proverbs 26:10 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 26:10

The great [God], that formed all [things]
That made the heavens, earth, and sea, and all that are in them; who is great in the perfections of his nature, and in the works of his hands, and greatly to be praised; both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors;
according to their works; every transgression of the law receiving its just recompence of reward, whether a man transgresses it ignorantly or wilfully; as his transgressions are, whether through error or presumption, so shall his punishment be; though some understand this, as Kimchi, of the Lord's doing good in a providential way, to the wise and unwise, the righteous and the wicked: the words are by some rendered to another sense, "a great one grieveth all, and he hireth the fool, and he hireth the transgressors" ^F25; that is, a great man, a tyrannical prince, grieves all his good subjects; or, as Hottinger ^F26, from the use of the word in the Arabic tongue, changes all things, inverts their order, or administers all at his will, that is, wrongly; when he hires fools and wicked men to do those bad things for him which others would not, to the great detriment of the commonwealth; and rewards them for it, putting them into posts of honour and trust, to the great grief and trouble of all his best subjects.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 So Mercerus, Piscator.
F26 Smegm. Oriental. l. 1. c. 2. p. 171.

Proverbs 26:10 In-Context

8 Putting a fool in a place of honor is like setting a mud brick on a marble column.

9 To ask a moron to quote a proverb is like putting a scalpel in the hands of a drunk.

10 Hire a fool or a drunk and you shoot yourself in the foot.

11 As a dog eats its own vomit, so fools recycle silliness.

12 See that man who thinks he's so smart? You can expect far more from a fool than from him.