Proverbs 26:2
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
American King James Version (AKJV)
As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
American Standard Version (ASV)
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, So the curse that is causeless alighteth not.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
As the sparrow in her wandering and the swallow in her flight, so the curse does not come without a cause.
Webster's Revision
As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
World English Bible
Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn't come to rest.
English Revised Version (ERV)
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, so the curse that is causeless lighteth not.
Clarke's Proverbs 26:2 Bible Commentary
As the bird - צפור tsippor is taken often for the sparrow; but means generally any small bird. As the sparrow flies about the house, and the swallow emigrates to strange countries; so an undeserved malediction may flutter about the neighborhood for a season: but in a short time it will disappear as the bird of passage; and never take effect on the innocent person against whom it was pronounced.
Barnes's Proverbs 26:2 Bible Commentary
i. e., "Vague as the flight of the sparrow, aimless as the wheelings of the swallow, is the causeless curse. It will never reach its goal." The marginal reading in the Hebrew, however, gives" to him" instead of "not" or "never;" i. e., "The causeless curse, though it may pass out of our ken, like a bird's track in the air, will come on the man who utters it." Compare the English proverb, "Curses, like young chickens, always come home to roost."
Wesley's Proverbs 26:2 Bible Commentary
26:2 By flying - Secures itself from the fowler. Not come - Upon the innocent person, but he shall escape from it like a bird.
