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Proverbs 26:4–5

Answer a fool, and do not

"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." Two opposite commands, side by side, in every witness. The rabbis debated withdrawing Proverbs because of this contradiction; most readers see deliberate design.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

      The proverb as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

    2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

      Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Ne respondeas stulto juxta stultitiam suam, ne efficiaris ei similis. Responde stulto juxta stultitiam suam, ne sibi sapiens esse videatur.

      Latin position: Proverbs 26:4–5. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398).

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      אַל־תַּ֣עַן כְּ֭סִיל כְּאִוַּלְתּ֑וֹ פֶּֽן־תִּשְׁוֶה־לּ֥וֹ גַם־אָֽתָּה׃ עֲנֵ֣ה כְ֭סִיל כְּאִוַּלְתּ֑וֹ פֶּן־יִהְיֶ֖ה חָכָ֣ם בְּעֵינָֽיו׃

      Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you too become like him (v. 4). Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes (v. 5)

      Hebrew position: Proverbs 26:4–5.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      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.

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Proverbs

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Ne réponds point au fou selon sa folie, de peur que tu ne deviennes semblable à lui. Mais réponds au fou selon sa folie, de peur qu’il ne semble sage à tes dépens.

      Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 26:4–5. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). In chapters 24–31 the Greek follows a different order of collections, which the digital file squeezes into Hebrew slots; the matching line was found by content. No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.

    What changed, and why

    The Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 30b) reports that the sages sought to "hide" (withdraw) Proverbs because its words contradicted each other, and resolved the tension: one verse refers to matters of Torah, the other to worldly matters. Other Jewish and Christian interpreters explain: do not answer in the fool's manner (with folly), but do answer his claims (so they do not pass for wisdom).

    The pairing teaches the book's method. Neither saying is always right. The wise person reads the situation: when engaging will only drag one down, keep silent; when silence would let falsehood stand, answer. The next verses (26:7, 9) warn that a proverb in a fool's mouth is useless or harmful: wisdom is in applying sayings, not reciting them.

    The witnesses agree; the Vulgate, Greek and Hebrew all keep the two verses together.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedAll library witnesses have 26:4 and 26:5 side by side.
    • Independently documentedShabbat 30b reports a debate over withdrawing Proverbs because of 26:4–5.
    • Strongly supportedThe pairing is deliberate.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Proverbs 26: Answer a Fool, and Answer Not →Proverbs 26 is built of three portraits. The fool (vv. 1–12): honour fits him like snow in summer; and two sayings stand side by side that seem to contradict each other: "Answer not a fool according to his folly" (v. 4) and "Answer a fool according to his folly" (v. 5). A proverb in a fool's mouth is like a lame man's legs or a thorn in a drunkard's hand (vv. 7, 9). The sluggard (vv. 13–16): "As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed." The troublemaker and the liar (vv. 17–28): meddling is like grabbing a dog by the ears; "where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth."