Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 26:3
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.
Pro 26:3-11
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fools back.
Aspects of a fool
Sin is folly. It sacrifices the spiritual for the material, the temporal for the eternal, the pure joys of immortality for the gratification of an hour.
I. He appears here as a servant. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fools back. This proverb inverts our ideas. We should have said, A bridle for the horse, and a whip for the ass. But the Eastern asses have much of the fire of our blood horses, while the horses are often heavy and dull. Therefore the ass there requires the bridle, and the horse the whip–the one to accelerate, the other to restrain and guide activity. As the horse and the ass, in order to be used as the servants of man, require the application of force, so does the fool. A rod for the fools back. If a stubborn sinner is to be made the servant of society, coercion must be employed. Argument, persuasion, example; these moral appliances will affect him but little.
II. He appears here as a debater. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. There is an apparent contradiction here, but it is only apparent. The negative means, we are not to debate with him in his style and spirit, and thus become like him. We are not to descend to his level of speech and temper. The positive means, that we are to answer him as his folly deserves. It may be by silence as well as speech. The fool talks; he is often a great debater.
III. He appears here as a messenger. The meaning of this is, He who would trust a fool with a message might as well cut off his feet, for he will have vexation and maybe damage. How careful should we be to entrust important business to trustworthy persons! Solomon himself drank damage, by employing an industrious servant, but a fool in wickedness, who lifted up his hand against the king, and spoiled his son of ten parts of his kingdom (1Ki 11:26-40). Benhadad drank damage by sending a message by the hands of Hazael, who murdered his master when the way was opened for his own selfish purposes (2Ki 8:8-15). Much of the business of life is carried on by messengers or agents. How much a mercantile firm suffers by improper representatives!
IV. He appears here as a teacher. The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. It is not very uncommon to find fools sustaining the office and performing the functions of teachers. They have a parable in their mouth. The verses suggest two things concerning them as teachers–
1. That they appear very ridiculous. The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the hands of fools. The idea seems to be, as the cripple who desires to appear nimble and agile appears ridiculous in his lame efforts to walk, so the fool appears ridiculous in his efforts to teach.
2. As teachers, they are generally very mischievous. As a thorn goeth up into the hand of the drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. The idea is, that a fool handling the doctrines of wisdom is like a drunken man handling thorns. The besotted inebriate, not knowing what he is about, lays hold of the thorn and perforates his own nerves. The wise sayings in the mouth of a stupid man are self-condemnatory.
V. He appears here as a commissioner. The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool and rewardeth transgressors. The word God is not in the original. The margin is the more faithful translation–A great man giveth all, and he hireth the fool; he hireth also transgressors. The idea seems to be, that when worldly princes employ fools for the public service it is a source of anxiety and trouble to all good citizens. The lesson has application from the throne downwards, through all the descriptions of subsidiary trusts. Extensive proprietors, who employ overseers of their tenants, or of those engaged in their manufactories, or mines, or whatever else be the description of their property, should see to the character of these overseers. Their power may be abused, and multitudes of workmen suffer, when the owner–the master–knows nothing of what is going on. But he ought to know. Many complainings and strikes, well or ill-founded, have their origin here.
VI. He appears here as a reprobate. The emblem here is disgusting, but the thing signified is infinitely more so. Peter quotes this proverb (2Pe 2:20-22). The wicked man often sickens at his wickedness, and then returns to it again. Thus Pharaoh returned from his momentary conviction (Exo 8:8-15); Ahab from his pretended repentance (1Ki 21:1-29.); Herod from his partial amendment (Mar 6:20-27). (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. A whip for the horse] Correction is as suitable to a fool, as a whip is for a horse, or a bridle for an ass.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A bridle was very proper and usual for an ass, when they rode upon it, (as the Jews most commonly did,) though not to restrain him from running away, which is the principal use of it in horses, yet that the rider might rule and guide him, which was very necessary for that stupid creature. Although the ancient interpreters render it a goad, or spur, or something of the like nature and use.
A rod for the fools back; which is most proper and necessary for him. Not words, but blows, must make him better.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. The rod is as much needed byfools and as well suited to them, as whips and bridles are forbeasts.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A whip for the horse,…. One that is dull of going, or refractory and wants breaking;
a bridle for the ass; not to curb and restrain it from going too fist, asses being generally dull; but to direct its way and turn it when necessary, it being stiffnecked and obstinate; though the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it a “spear” or “goad”, something to prick with, and excite it to motion; and so the Targum; or otherwise one would have thought the whip was fitter for the ass and the bridle for the horse;
and a rod for the fool’s back; suggesting that the fool, or wicked man, is like the horse or the mule; though not without understanding of things natural, yet of things divine and moral; and as stupid as the ass, however wise he may conceit himself to be, being born like a wild ass’s colt; and instead of honour being given him, stripes should be laid upon him; he should be reproved sharply, and corrected for his wickedness, especially the causeless curser, Pr 19:29.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass,
And a rod for the back of fools.
J. D. Michaelis supposes that the order should be reversed: a bridle for the horse, a whip for the ass; but Arnoldi has here discovered the figure of speech merismus (cf. Pro 10:1); and Hitzig, in the manner of the division, the rhythmical reason of the combination (cf. for ): whip and bridle belong to both, for one whips a horse (Neh 3:2) and also bridles him; one bridles an ass (Psa 32:9) and also whips him (Num 22:28.). As whip and bridle are both serviceable and necessary, so also serviceable and necessary is a rod, , Pro 10:13; Pro 19:29.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.
Here, 1. Wicked men are compared to the horse and the ass, so brutish are they, so unreasonable, so unruly, and not to be governed but by force or fear, so low has sin sunk men, so much below themselves. Man indeed is born like the wild ass’s colt, but as some by the grace of God are changed, and become rational, so others by custom in sin are hardened, and become more and more sottish, as the horse and the mule, Ps. xxxii. 9. 2. Direction is given to use them accordingly. Princes, instead of giving honour to a fool (v. 1), must put disgrace upon him–instead of putting power into his hand, must exercise power over him. A horse unbroken needs a whip for correction, and an ass a bridle for direction and to check him when he would turn out of the way; so a vicious man, who will not be under the guidance and restraint of religion and reason, ought to be whipped and bridled, to be rebuked severely, and made to smart for what he has done amiss, and to be restrained from offending any more.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
A Rod For the Fool
Verse 3 suggests that as the horse and ass which lack understanding require bridle and whip, so the fool requires the rod of correction, Pro 10:13. Psa 32:9 admonishes man to be not as the horse or mule, but rather heed the instruction with which the LORD seeks to guide him, Psa 32:8. To ignore this admonition is foolish indeed, Pro 1:7; Pro 10:21; Pro 14:9; Pro 9:6; Pro 1:29-32.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 26:3. To our English ideas, the whip and bridle are assigned respectively to the wrong animals, but it must be remembered that the Eastern ass is often quite as spirited an animal as the horse.
Pro. 26:6. Drinketh damage, or injury. As in Job. 21:20, the verb drinketh seems to express suffering in a large measure.
Pro. 26:7. Are not equal. The Hebrew word, so rendered, is a very obscure one, and is rendered by Delitzsch, Gesenius, and others, hang down. Zckler and Stuart give the sentence the imperative form, and read, Take away the legs from the lame, and the proverb in the fools mouth. Parable. This is the common word for proverbthe word that gives the title to the book. On its real meaning, see the Introduction.
Pro. 26:8. Sling. Gesenius, Zckler, and many other commentators, adopt the reading in the margin of the English version, and translate this word, which is very obscure, a heap of stones. Stuart, Ewald, Delitzsch, and others, retain the word sling, which is the reading of the Septuagint. Stuart thus explains the verse, It would be absurd to bind a stone in a sling, and then expect it to do execution. Equally so is it to bestow honour on a fool, and expect any good consequences from it. If the first rendering is adopted, the word stone must be understood to refer to a precious stone.
Pro. 26:9. A thorn. This is generally understood to mean a thorny stick or staff, which is a mischievous weapon in the hands of a drunkard.
Pro. 26:10. This verse is very difficult and obscure, and has many and entirely different renderings. Luther, Elster, and others, translate the subject of the first clause, A master, an able man, formeth all aright,or all himself. Delitzsch, Umbreit, and Hitzig, read, Much produceth all. The French version is in substance the same as our English marginal rendering. Perhaps the greater number of Hebrew critics favour the rendering of Zckler, Ewald, Stier, etc., who read, As an archer, who woundeth everything, so is he who hireth fools and vagrants (or wayfarers). Stuart and Miller translate the first word, arrow, and the former thus explains the proverb, He who employs fools and vagrants to do his work, will injure himself.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 26:3-11
A LOW LEVEL
I. A moral fool puts himself on a level with the brute by turning a deaf ear to the voices of reason and conscience. That which above all other characteristics distinguishes man from the lower animals is the possession of a moral sense and a reasoning faculty; these are the great lights which God has given him for his guidance, by the use of which he may ever be rising to a higher moral and intellectual level. But the moral fool does not listen to them, and even after he has tasted the bitterness of disregarding them, and even while he is suffering from the evil effects of his folly, he gives evidence of his moral stupidity by returning to it (Pro. 26:11). This is a plain proof that he is as the horse or the mule, which have no understanding. (Psa. 32:9).
II. Having chosen his position he must be treated accordingly. When men act like menwhen their conduct is such as befits responsible and rational creaturesthey are open to reason and persuasion, and their fellow-men are bound to use such means in their intercourse with them. They are bound to listen to what they have to say, and to reply to their questions and consider their objections. But to do this with such a person as is here called a fool would be to disobey our Saviours injunction, and to cast our pearls before swine. It would be letting ourselves down to his level and encouraging him in his self-conceit. This, we think, is the meaning of Pro. 26:4. But, on the other hand, we are not always to be silent when the fool is talking. This also might lead him to think that his foolish arguments were unanswerablethat we thought him as wise as he thinks himself to be. He is to receive sometimes the stern rebuke that his folly deserves; the manifestation of our displeasure is to be in proportion to his manifestation of weakness and wickedness. This will also be answering a fool according to his folly, as in Pro. 26:5. But a fool must be checked by means that will perhaps make more impression upon him than mere words. The rod must be appliedcoercion and punishment must come into use where reason and moral persuasion are useless. Having placed himself on a level with the brute, he must be ruled sometimes by brute forceby the whip of compulsion, and by the bridle of restraint. Men have the power of doing this to a certain extent, and it is their duty to use it. But whether they do or do not, God will certainly visit such an offender with the rod of punishment. Whether this is the truth contained in Pro. 26:10 or not, revelation and experience affirm it, and we have met with it repeatedly in this book. It is a great offence against Him who called us into being, and who desires His creatures to be worthy of their Creator, when men thus in practice count themselves unworthy of their destiny. The Hebrew nation, in the bygone ages, was called by God to occupy a higher moral level than the surrounding nations, but by its own stubbornness and self-conceit it made the purpose of God of none effect, and was therefore necessarily made to feel the bitterness of being treated like a wild and refractory animal (Jer. 31:18). And so is it with men in general. God would treat them as His sons, but their moral foolishness compels Him to make them feel the whip, the bridle, and the rod. One other thought is suggested in Pro. 26:7-8
III. That even the fool will sometimes adopt the speech of the wise. A parable, or wise saying, will sometimes be found on his lips, he will be sometimes heard to utter words of wisdom and give good advice. But precept is of little avail if not backed by a good example; the words and the deeds of such a man are as ill-matched as those of a cripple who has one sound and useful limb, but whose other is shrunken and useless. The gait of such a man is awkward and uncertain, the malformed and the healthy limb do not well balance his body. This is an apt illustration of the incongruity which often exists between the words and actions of a moral fool.
(For Homiletics on Pro. 26:6; Pro. 26:8 considered separately see on Pro. 26:1, page 714, and on chap. Pro. 10:26, page 179.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 26:3. The rod is needful for the fools back. Are you the unhappy fathers of foolish children? you must make use of the rod and reproof to give them wisdom. Are you authorised to bear rule in the church? the rod of church discipline must be applied to offenders, that they may be reclaimed, and others warned. Are you magistrates; the rod which God has put into your hands may be a means of preserving young malefactors from the gibbet at a more advanced period of life. Are you wise? beware of turning aside unto folly, that you may never need the rod. Are you fools? learn wisdom, or do not blame those whom duty and charity will oblige to use the rod for your correction.Lawson.
Pro. 26:4-5. Answer a fool, not with any dream that you thoroughly answer him, lest you be like him, and a fool yourself. And yet, by all means answer him. Answer wherever you can, lest he think you cant; exploding all baseless heresies and mistakes; lest, hardening himself where he might be convinced, and defrauding himself where there is everything to be said, he erect himself against facts where he has not been taught, and become wise in his own eyes. Answer not a fool, because much mystery does not admit of answer, and you will be a fool yourself. But more. The natural man does not discern the things of the spirit of God. If you answer a natural man with the idea that mere answers can turn him, you must be like him, as having no sense yourself of what is purely spiritual. Notice here a grand rebuke of reason in all attempts to convince the sinner. Nevertheless answer a fool, and bow to just as great a rebuke to reason. We use reason far too gingerly. Reason is a Divine creation. It is an instrument. There is a thought as though it were wicked to go too deep. On the contrary, we are to out-think the fool. If we leave science to work her way, she will grow wise in her own conceit. Answer her. Rationalistic infidelity is by no means an infidelity in reason. And the church should make that to be seen. Scripture has been belied in the direction of Paul to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2) Nothing is more irrational than rationalism. And one of the first answers to the fool which he shall receive in the judgment will be, that he had all the reason for believing Christ which he had for anything beside, and a host of greater ones peculiar to the gospel.Miller.
These two sentences may seem at the first blush to be contrary but this knot will be easily untied if it be observed that there are two sorts of answers, the one in folly, the other unto folly. A fool is not to be answered in his folly, or according unto his folly, that is to say, in such vanity as he useth, or after such a raging manner as he speaketh A fool is to be answered unto his folly; that is, by reasons to be confuted, and by reproofs that are wise to be bridled.Muffett.
Generally speaking, it would be better to follow Hezekiahs command concerning Rabshakehs blasphemyAnswer him not. Jeremiah thus turned away in silence from the folly of the false prophets. (Jer. 28:11.) If however we are constrained to replyAnswer him not according to his folly; not in his own foolish manner; not rendering railing for railing. (1Pe. 3:9.) Moses offended here. He answered the rebels according to their follypassion for passion, and thus he became like unto them. Davids answer to Nabal was in the same humiliating spirit. The answerer in this case is like the fool. He appears at the time to be cast in the same mould.Bridges.
Pro. 26:7. Uniformity and ubiquity of obedience are sure signs of sincerity; but as an unequal pulse argues a distempered body, so doth uneven walking a diseased soul. A wise mans life is all of one colour, like itself, and godliness runs through it, as the woof runs through the warp. But if all the parts of the line of thy life be not straight before God, it is a crooked life. If thy tongue speak by the talent, but thine hands scarce work by the ounce, thou shalt pass for a Pharisee (Mat. 23:3). They spake like angels, lived like devils; had heaven commonly at their tongue ends, but the earth continually at their finger ends.Trapp.
Pro. 26:9. When a drunkard carries and brandishes in his hand a sweet briar, he scratches more with it than he allows the roses to be smelled; so a fool with the Scriptures or a judicial maxim oft causes more harm than profit.Luther.
Proverbs have sometimes been hurtful even in the mouths of wise men, through the imperfection of their wisdom. Jobs friends dealt much in parables, which they had learned by tradition from their wise ancestors, but they misapplied them to the case of Job; and although they meant to plead the cause of God, yet they displeased Him so much by their uncharitable speeches against Job, which they drew by unjust inference from undoubted truths, that He told them they had not spoken the thing that was right concerning Him as His servant Job had done. If Job had not been a strong believer, their management of truth must have sunk him into despondency.Lawson.
Pro. 26:11. The emblem is a loathsome and sickening one. It is meant to be so. It would not have been appropriate, had it been anything else. There are two ideas conveyed by the comparison. The disposition or tendency, on the part of the fool or vicious man, to return to his folly; and the loathsomenessthe vilenessof the thing itself, when it does take place. There are persons of great pretensions to refinement, who affect great disgust at the comparison. They wonder how anybody of ordinary delicacy can utter it. They would think their lips polluted by the very words. It were well for such persons to remember, that there is no comparison so odious as the thing itself which is represented by it. It were well if such persons would transfer their disgust and loathing at the figure to that which the figure represents:if they would cherish a proper loathing of sin. That is what God holds in abhorrence:that is what should be abhorred by us. Persons may affect to sicken at the comparison here used, and yet be themselves exemplifying the very conduct it so aptly represents. Folly and sin are incomparably more polluting and debasing to the nature of man, than the vilest and most disgusting practices in the inferior animals.Wardlaw.
And is this the picture of manmade a little lower than the angels (Psa. 8:5)yeamade in the likeness of God? (Gen. 1:26.) Who that saw Adam in his universal dominion, sitting as the monarch of creation; summoning all before him; giving to each his name, and receiving in turn his homage (Ib. Pro. 2:20)who would have conceived of his children sunk into such brutish degradation? The tempters promise wasYe shall be as gods (Ib. Pro. 3:5). The result of this promise wasYe shall be as beasts. Thus greedily did Pharaoh return from his momentary conviction; Ahab from his feigned repentance; Herod from his partial amendment; the drunkard from his brutish insensibilityall to take a more determinate course of sin; to take their final plunge into ruin.Bridges.
According to the usual method of the Scriptures, a known thing is here employed to teach an unknown. The taste which inheres in nature is used as an instrument to implant the corresponding spiritual sensibility. The revulsion of the senses from a loathsome object is used as a lever power to press into the soul a dislike of sin. The lines are strongly drawn, that the lesson may be clear and cutting. There must be a rude hearty blow, for there is a hard searing to be penetrated. Those who go back to suck at sins, which they once repudiated, may see in this terse proverb a picture of their pollution; only the Omniscient perfectly knows and loathes the vile originalArnot.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
3. Whip bridle rod “According to our English notions, we should rather say a bridle for the horse and a whip for the ass. But from numerous passages in the Old Testament it appears that asses were the beasts on which the people, and even the great men, usually rode. Their asses, therefore, being active and well broken, needed but a bridle to guide them, whereas their horses, being, probably, badly broken and easily frightened, would be less manageable, and frequently require the correction of the whip.” The Seventy, perhaps led by the same train of thought as the above, have translated , ( metheg,) bridle, by , a goad. There is, however, no example of such use of metheg. Instead of “for the back of a fool,” they also read, “for a simple nation.” Comp. Pro 10:13; Pro 19:29; Psa 32:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 26:3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.
Ver. 3. A whip for the horse, ] viz., To quicken his slow pace. “A bridle for the ass,” wherewith to lead him in the right way; for he goes willingly but a foot pace, and would be oft out, but for the bit; and besides, he is very refractory, and must be “held in with bit and bridle.” Psa 32:9
And a rod for the back of fools.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the fool’s back = the back of fools.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 26:3-12
Pro 26:3-12
MORE PROVERBS REGARDING FOOLS
“A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, And a rod for the back of fools.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, Lest thou also be like unto him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own conceit.
He that sendeth a message by a fool cutteth off his own feet, and drinketh in damage.
The legs of the lame hang loose, So is a parable in the mouth of fools.
As one that bindeth a stone in a sling, So is he that giveth honor to a fool.
As a thorn that goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, So is a parable in the mouth of fools.
As an archer that woundeth all, So is he that hireth a fool and he that hireth them that pass by.
As a dog that returneth to his vomit, So is a fool that repeateth his folly.
Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.”
Here we have a variation in Proverbs, a collection of verses regarding a single subject. The subject here is fools. Apparently Hezekiah’s men, who sought out these proverbs from the writings of Solomon (Pro 25:1), decided to classify them!
This subject was apparently one of Solomon’s favorites, We have already discussed this subject under the following verses: Pro 10:8; Pro 10:13-14; Pro 10:23; Pro 12:1; Pro 12:8; Pro 12:15; Pro 12:23; Pro 13:15-16; Pro 14:6-8; Pro 14:15-16; Pro 14:18; Pro 14:24; Pro 14:33; Pro 15:7; Pro 15:14; Pro 15:21; Pro 17:10; Pro 17:12; Pro 17:24. See our comments under those references. These verses are all in the same spirit of detestation of fools as are all the others.
Pro 26:4 and Pro 26:5 should not be viewed as a contradiction, but as a statement that one’s answer to a fool should be governed by the circumstances, sometimes one way, sometimes another.
“Pro 25:13 presents the converse of Pro 26:6. It is significant that the sentiment of these verses appears again and again in the New Testament. Peter quoted Pro 26:11 a (2Pe 2:22); and Paul quoted Pro 26:12 a (Rom 12:16). The `fool’ so often vigorously denounced in Proverbs should be identified as “wicked” rather than as a mental incompetent, as we have often pointed out. However, in this particular group of proverbs, Driver wrote that, “The folly described in these verses is intellectual.
Pro 26:9. Pulpit Commentary: There is here no idea of a drunkards hand being pierced with a thorn…but rather of his being armed with it. Lange: When a drunkard carries and brandishes in his hand a sweet briar… Would it be dangerous for a drunkard to get a branch of a thorn bush in his hand and began hitting people with it? Is a parable in the mouth of a fool not also dangerous in another way?
Pro 26:10. Pulpit Commentary: A careless, random way of doing business, taking into ones service fools, or entrusting matters of importance to any chance loiterer, is as dangerous as shooting arrows about recklessly without caring whither they flew or whom they wounded.
Pro 26:11. The Bible here and in 2Pe 2:20 (which quotes it) calls upon one of the most obnoxious sights in nature to teach us a lesson: that of a dog who has just given up (vomited) what he had partaken of and then turning around and eating it again. This verse applies it to a fool returning to his acts of foolishness while 2Pe 2:20 applies it to a backslider returning to his former sins.
Pro 26:12. Pulpit Commentary: Nothing so shuts the door against improvement as self-conceit. Woe unto them, says Isa 5:21, that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Such persons, professing themselves wise, become fools (Rom 1:22)…Touching conceit, the Oriental speaks of the fox finding his shadow very large, and of the wolf when alone thinking himself a lion. Rom 12:3 says, I say…to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Rom 12:16 : Be not wise in your own conceits. Gal 6:3 : If a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. This verse says there is more hope for a fool than for a conceited person; Pro 29:20 says the same concerning a man hasty in his words.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
According to our notions, we should rather say, a bridle for the horse, and a whip for the ass; but it should be considered, that the Eastern asses are not only much more beautiful, but better goers that ours; and being active and well broken, they need only a bridle to guide them; whereas their horses being scarce, and often caught wild, and badly broken, are much less manageable, and need the correction of the whip. Pro 10:13, Pro 17:10, Pro 19:25, Pro 27:22, Jdg 8:5-7, Psa 32:9, 1Co 4:21, 2Co 10:6, 2Co 13:2
Reciprocal: Pro 19:29 – and Pro 26:1 – so Pro 29:19 – servant Isa 30:28 – a bridle Jer 31:18 – as a