A proverb in the fool's mouth is as useless as the legs of a lame man, present but unable to function.
Wisdom spoken by the wrong person becomes the picture in Proverbs 26:7: Like the legs which are useless to the lame, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools (v. 7).
The legs which are useless to the lame, even though they are still attached to him; they simply do not work. They hang there without serving their purpose. The picture is of equipment present but disabled.
So is a proverb in the mouth of fools. The fool may know the right sayings. He may quote them at the right moments. But the wisdom does not function in his life. The proverb hangs in his mouth without doing what proverbs are meant to do, the same way the lame man's legs hang without carrying him. The verse warns against assuming that knowing the sayings is the same as living them. Another comparison appears in James 1:22, "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers."
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Proverbs 26:7 meaning
Wisdom spoken by the wrong person becomes the picture in Proverbs 26:7: Like the legs which are useless to the lame, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools (v. 7).
The legs which are useless to the lame, even though they are still attached to him; they simply do not work. They hang there without serving their purpose. The picture is of equipment present but disabled.
So is a proverb in the mouth of fools. The fool may know the right sayings. He may quote them at the right moments. But the wisdom does not function in his life. The proverb hangs in his mouth without doing what proverbs are meant to do, the same way the lame man's legs hang without carrying him. The verse warns against assuming that knowing the sayings is the same as living them. Another comparison appears in James 1:22, "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers."