Proverbs 26:2 - Exposition

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying. "Bird" ( tsippor ) is the sparrow, which is found throughout Palestine; "swallow" ( deror ), the free flier. The Authorized Version hardly gives the sense. The line should be rendered, as the sparrow in (in respect of) its wandering , as the swallow in its flying . The point of comparison is the vagueness and aimlessness of the birds' flight, or the uselessness of trying to catch them in their course. So the curse causeless shall not come. It shall, as it were, spend its force in the air, and fall not on the head on which it was invoked. A causeless curse is that which is uttered against one who has done nothing to deserve such denunciation. Septuagint, "As birds and sparrows fly, so a causeless ( ματαία ) curse shall come upon no one" Bailey, 'Festus'—

"Blessings star forth forever; but a curse

Is like a cloud—it passes."

Closely connected with the superstition that dreads a curse is that which is alarmed by omens. Against this irrational fear we find some Eastern proverbs directed; e . g . "The jackal howls: will my old buffalo die?" "The dog barks—still the caravan passes: will the barking of the dog reach the skies?" (Lane). Instead of לאֹ , "not," the Keri reads לוֹ , "to him." This makes the proverb say that the unprovoked curse shall return upon him who uttered it. But this reading is not to be accepted, as it does not suit the terms of comparison, though it seems to have been used by St. Jerome, who translates, Sic maledictum frustra prolatum in quempiam superveniet . This retributive justice is often alluded to elsewhere; e . g . Proverbs 26:27 (where see note). So we find in various languages proverbs to the same effect. Thus in English, "Harm watch, harm catch;" Spanish, "Who sows thorns, let him not walk barefoot;" Turkish, "Curses, like chickens, always come home to roost;" Yoruba, "Ashes always fly back in the face of him that throws them" (Trench).