Proverbs 18:21

18:21 Death and life are in the power ¹  of the tongue, ² 

and those who love its use ³  will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 26:6

26:6 Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence, ⁴ 

so is sending ⁵  a message by the hand of a fool. ⁶ 

Proverbs 26:9

26:9 Like a thorn ⁷  that goes into the hand of a drunkard,

so is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. ⁸ 

[18:21]  ¹ tn Heb “in the hand of.”

[18:21]  ² sn What people say can lead to life or death. The Midrash on Psalms shows one way the tongue [what is said] can cause death: “The evil tongue slays three, the slanderer, the slandered, and the listener” (Midrash Tehillim 52:2). See J. G. Williams, “The Power of Form: A Study of Biblical Proverbs,” Semeia 17 (1980): 35-38.

[18:21]  ³ tn The referent of “it” must be the tongue, i.e., what the tongue says (= “its use”). So those who enjoy talking, indulging in it, must “eat” its fruit, whether good or bad. The expression “eating the fruit” is an implied comparison; it means accept the consequences of loving to talk (cf. TEV).

[26:6]  ⁴ sn Sending a messenger on a mission is like having another pair of feet. But if the messenger is a fool, this proverb says, not only does the sender not have an extra pair of feet – he cuts off the pair he has. It would not be simply that the message did not get through; it would get through incorrectly and be a setback! The other simile uses “violence,” a term for violent social wrongs and injustice. The metaphorical idea of “drinking” violence means suffering violence – it is one’s portion. So sending a fool on a mission will have injurious consequences.

[26:6]  ⁵ tn The participle could be taken as the subject of the sentence: “the one who sends…cuts off…and drinks.”

[26:6]  ⁶ sn The consequence is given in the first line and the cause in the second. It would be better not to send a message at all than to use a fool as messenger.

[26:9]  ⁷ sn The picture is one of seizing a thornbush and having the thorn pierce the hand (עָלָה בְיַד־, ’alah vÿyad). A drunk does not know how to handle a thornbush because he cannot control his movements and so gets hurt (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 599). C. H. Toy suggests that this rather means a half-crazy drunken man brandishing a stick (Proverbs [ICC], 475). In this regard cf. NLT “a thornbush brandished by a drunkard.”

[26:9]  ⁸ sn A fool can read or speak a proverb but will be intellectually and spiritually unable to handle it; he will misapply it or misuse it in some way. In doing so he will reveal more of his folly. It is painful to hear fools try to use proverbs.