Proverbs 26:2

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. AS THE BIRD (OR THE SPARROW) BY WANDERING (OR, IS PRONE TO WANDERING), AS THE SWALLOW BY FLYING (OR, IS PRONE TO FLYING), SO THE CURSE CAUSELESS SHALL NOT COME. 'As the bird wandering, and the swallow flying' up and down, never lights upon us, but quickly flies to the winds, 'so the curse that is causeless' (i:e., for which we have given no just cause) "shall not come" to injure us. Balaam could not curse the people whom God had blessed (Deuteronomy 23:5). David was not hurt by Shimei's curse (2 Samuel 16:5); but was requited instead by God with good (Psalms 109:28)....

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....

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.”...

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 26:1 Certain proverbs concerning the fool (_kesil_),_ _with the exception, perhaps, of Proverbs 26:2 (see on Proverbs 1:22). PROVERBS 26:1 AS SNOW IN SUMMER, AND AS RAIN IN HARVEST. Snow in summer would be quite unnatural and unheard of (see on Proverbs 25:13). Rain falls in the usual course of things only at stated times; whence arose the phrase of "the early and of latter rains" (see on...

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...

CHAPTER 26 CONCERNING THE FOOL AND THE SLUGGARD Eleven times we meet the word fool in this chapter. Three different words are used in the Hebrew for fool. The first is “avil” which signifies weakness. The second word “kesil” occurs nearly fifty times, means fat or dense. The third word is the Hebrew “nabal,” which is derived from the verb to fade, or to wither; it means a vulgar, bad man who has given himself over to wickedness. The natural man in his condition, his darkened mind, his sinfulness answers to much that is said about the fool in this book. As snow in summer and rain at harvest time are quiteimpossible in Palestine, so is honor for a fool. A fool may utter a curse, as they often do, and wish something evil, but being causeless, it will not be fulfilled. The fool needs correction, the stripes for his back, he deserves no answer, and if he is answered it must be according to hi...

THE BOOK OF FOOLS. A section containing a series of synthetic couplets dealing with folly (except Proverbs 26:2). The text is unusually corrupt and defective. PROVERBS 26:1. For the opposite use of snow in harvest _cf._ Proverbs 25:13 *. Proverbs 26:2. Directed against the superstitious belief in the magical value of a curse. The simile refers to the aimless wandering of a bird, and is not to be compared with the flying roll of curses in Zechariah 5:1....

BY... BY. for... for: or [has cause] for. SO THE CURSE, &C. Illustrations: Baalam's (Nehemiah 13:2); Goliath's (1 Samuel 17:43); Shimei's (2 Samuel 16:5; 2 Samuel 16:12)....

_bird_ Rather, SPARROW. The mention of a particular bird, the swallow, in the next clause makes it probable that a particular bird is intended here also. _come_ Rather, LIGHT. The whole proverb gains by the rendering of R.V.: AS THE SPARROW IN HER WANDERING, AS THE SWALLOW IN HER FLYING, SO THE CURSE THAT IS CAUSELESS LIGHTETH NOT. The reading, "shall come _to him_" (who invokes it), instead of "shall _not_come," which involves the change of only a single letter in the Hebrew, mars the force and beauty of the comparison. It may perhaps have been suggested by the idea that the subject of this verse he who invokes the curse would be "the fool," as in the group of Proverbs, vv1-12 here. Proverbs 26:3. The proverbs of this group have all of them, as has...

AS THE BIRD BY WANDERING— "Curses which fly out of men's mouths causlessly shall no more alight where they would have them, than a sparrow which wanders uncertainly, or a _dove_ which flies away swiftly, will settle according to their direction;" or it may be, Such curses fly as swiftly as those birds, whose property it is to fly up and down, over the head of him against whom they are directed, and never touch him." The words may be rendered, _As the sparrow is for wandering, as a wild dove to fly, so the rash curse shall not come._...