Proverbs 26: Fools, lazy people and tricky talkers | Bible study

This chapter paints funny and sad pictures of three kinds of people: the fool who never learns, the lazy person who won't get out of bed, and the person who uses words to start fights and trick others.

Proverbs 26:1

Snow does not belong in summer, and rain does not belong when farmers are picking their crops. Praise does not belong to a fool either.

Like snow in summer, like rain at harvest,

Two things that are out of season in Israel. Snow in the hot months does not happen, and rain during harvest is not just odd but harmful, because it ruins the cut grain.

so honor does not suit a fool.

This is the point of the comparison. Giving a fool status, praise or position is as out of place as that weather, and like harvest rain it does damage.

שלג · sheleg · snow: Snow falls in the hill country in winter only. In summer it would be a freak event.
קציר · qatsir · grain harvest: From a root meaning to cut. The reaping season, when the cut crop lies in the open.
נאוה · na'veh · suitable, becoming: What suits or looks right on someone. The same word is used in 17:7 and 19:10 for things that do not suit a fool.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: The thick, self-confident fool of 1:22. This word dominates the first twelve verses of the chapter.
כבוד · kavod · weight, honor: From a root meaning heavy. Honor is the weight a person carries in other people's eyes.

In Israel almost no rain falls from late spring to early autumn, and the grain harvest comes at the start of that dry season. Rain at harvest was so abnormal that in 1 Samuel 12:17 it is sent as a sign of God's displeasure.

Proverbs 26:2

If someone wishes bad things on you for no reason, don't worry. Those words are like a little bird that flits past and never lands.

Like a small bird darting about, like a swallow in flight,

The picture is of birds that flutter around and never settle. They pass overhead and are gone.

so a curse with no cause behind it does not land.

A curse spoken against someone who has done nothing to deserve it has no power. It flits past like the birds and settles on no one, so the innocent need not fear it.

צפור · tsippor · small bird: The general word for a small bird, named from its chirping.
דרור · deror · swallow: A fast, free-flying bird. The same word means liberty or release in Leviticus 25:10.
קללה · qelalah · curse: From a root meaning to be light or to treat as worthless. A spoken wish of harm.
חנם · chinnam · for nothing: For no reason, undeserved. The word used in 1:11 of attacking an innocent person.

People in the ancient world widely believed a spoken curse had a force of its own once released. The proverb denies that: a curse works only where it is deserved.

The written Hebrew text has the word 'not' (it will not come). The traditional margin reads a word that sounds the same and means 'to him', giving 'it comes back to him', that is, to the one who cursed. Most versions follow the written text.

Proverbs 26:3

A whip is for a horse, and reins are for a donkey. A fool needs a stick on his back before he will behave.

A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,

Animals are not steered by explanation. They are moved and guided by force applied from outside.

and a rod for the back of fools.

The fool is put in the same list as the animals. Since he will not respond to reasons, the only thing that gets through to him is painful consequences.

שוט · shot · whip: A lash used to drive an animal forward.
מתג · meteg · bridle, bit: The gear in the animal's mouth that turns and holds it. Compare Psalm 32:9.
שבט · shevet · rod, staff: A stick used for discipline; the same word is used for a shepherd's staff and a ruler's sceptre. Proverbs 10:13 says the same thing about the back of the senseless.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: Plural here. The kesil learns, if at all, only by being made to feel it.

Proverbs 26:4

Don't answer a fool in the same silly way he talks, or you will be just like him.

Do not answer a fool in line with his folly,

Do not reply to a fool in his own manner: matching his insults, his shouting or his bad logic.

or you yourself will become just like him.

This is the reason. If you argue on his level and in his style, there are now two fools, and no one watching can tell the difference.

ענה · anah · answer, respond: To reply. The same verb opens verse 5 as a command to do the opposite.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: The fool of the whole section.
אולת · ivvelet · folly: The noun related to evil, the stubborn fool. Folly as a settled way of acting.
שוה · shavah · be equal to: To be level with, to be the same as. You end up his equal.

In Hebrew the phrase 'according to his folly' is word for word the same in verses 4 and 5. English versions vary the wording of verse 5 to bring out the different sense. The two verses are placed together on purpose.

Proverbs 26:5

Do answer a fool when his silly talk needs it. If you don't, he will think he is wise.

Answer a fool in line with his folly,

The opposite command, in the same Hebrew words. Here it means give him the answer his folly calls for: show it up for what it is.

or he will be wise in his own eyes.

This is the reason. If nobody answers him, he takes the silence as proof he was right. Together verses 4 and 5 teach that no single rule covers every fool; you have to judge which danger is greater, becoming like him or leaving him smug.

ענה · anah · answer, respond: The same verb as verse 4, now a positive command.
אולת · ivvelet · folly: The same word as verse 4. The answer must fit the folly without sharing in it.
חכם · chakam · wise: The adjective from chokmah. Here it is only what the fool thinks he is.
עין · ayin · eye, opinion: In one's eyes means in one's own judgment. The phrase returns in verses 12 and 16.

Proverbs 26:6

Sending a message with a fool is like chopping off your own feet. You are asking for trouble.

Whoever sends a message in a fool's hand

In a world without post or phones, the messenger was the message. He had to carry your words accurately and speak for you.

cuts off his own feet and drinks down harm.

A messenger is meant to be an extra pair of feet for you. Sending a fool is like cutting off the feet you had: the errand does not get done, and the garbled message brings harm on the sender, which he has to swallow.

שלח דברים · shalach devarim · send words: Literally sends words. The sender trusts his words to another person's hand.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: Compare 10:26 and 13:17 on bad messengers, and 25:13 on a faithful one.
קצה · qatsah · cut off: To cut away at the end. The sender cripples himself.
חמס · chamas · violence, wrong: Violent wrong or injury. Here it is the damage the sender takes in.
שתה · shatah · drink: To drink something is to take the full measure of it into yourself. Compare Job 15:16.

Proverbs 26:7

A wise saying in a fool's mouth is as useless as legs that cannot walk.

Like legs that hang limp on a lame man,

The legs are there, but they cannot carry him anywhere. They have the form of legs without the function.

so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

A fool can recite a wise saying, but in his mouth it is as useless as those legs. He does not know when or how it applies, so it takes no one anywhere.

שוק · shoq · leg: The leg, properly the upper leg or thigh.
פסח · pisseach · lame: A lame person. The word used of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9:13.
משל · mashal · a comparison: The word in the title of the book (1:1). A proverb has to be applied to work, and applying it takes wisdom.
פה · peh · mouth: Singular in Hebrew: the mouth of fools.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: The kesil can repeat wisdom without having any.

The verb in the first line is an unusual form. It is generally understood as 'hang down' or 'dangle', which is why versions speak of limp or useless legs.

Proverbs 26:8

Praising a fool is as silly as tying a stone into a slingshot so it can't fly out.

Like tying a stone into a sling,

A sling works only if the stone flies out. Tie the stone in and the weapon is useless, and when you swing it the stone comes round at you.

so is the one who gives honor to a fool.

Honoring a fool is the same kind of nonsense. The honor does not do what honor is for, and it is likely to come back and hurt the one who gave it.

צרר · tsarar · tie up, bind: To tie up tightly or wrap in a bundle.
אבן · even · stone: The slingstone, about the size of a fist.
מרגמה · margemah · sling, or stone heap: This word occurs only here. It is related to a verb for stoning, and most take it to mean a sling.
כבוד · kavod · weight, honor: The same word as verse 1. That verse said honor does not suit a fool; this one says what happens when it is given anyway.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: The fool raised to a position he cannot handle.

A sling was a leather pouch on two cords. The slinger whirled it and let one cord go so the stone flew out. It was a real weapon of war (Judges 20:16; 1 Samuel 17:49).

Because the word for sling occurs only here, some older versions understood it as a heap of stones: like putting a precious stone on a rock pile, a waste. Either way the honor is thrown away.

Proverbs 26:9

A wise saying in a fool's mouth is like a thorny branch in the hand of someone who has drunk too much wine. Somebody is going to get hurt.

A thorn that has gone up into a drunkard's hand,

Either the drunk man has a thorn stuck in his hand and is too numb to feel it, or he is waving a thorny branch around and hurting people. In both readings he has something sharp and no control over it.

so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

This is the same line as verse 7, with a worse result. There the proverb was useless; here it is dangerous. A fool with a wise saying wounds himself or others with it, because he uses it at the wrong time and against the wrong person.

חוח · choach · thorn, thornbush: A thorn or a thorny plant. The word can mean a single thorn or the whole bramble.
שכור · shikkor · drunk person: Someone who is drunk, from the word for strong drink.
משל · mashal · a comparison: Repeated from verse 7.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: Compared here to a drunk: not in control of what he is holding.

The Hebrew says a thorn 'goes up in the hand' of a drunkard. That can mean it pierces his hand, or that he lifts it up as a weapon. Versions differ accordingly.

Proverbs 26:10

Giving a job to a fool, or to anybody who just walks by, is like shooting arrows all over the place and hurting everyone.

Like an archer who wounds everyone in range,

An archer shooting at random hits whoever happens to be there. The damage is wide and no one is safe.

so is one who hires a fool or hires whoever is passing by.

An employer who takes on a fool, or anyone off the road without checking him, lets loose the same kind of random damage on everyone the work touches.

רב · rav · archer, or master: The word can mean an archer (as in Job 16:13) or a great one, a master. The NASB follows the first sense.
שכר · sakar · hire for wages: To take someone on for pay. The verb comes twice in the line.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: The fool as an employee: verse 6 made the same point about the fool as a messenger.
עבר · avar · pass by: Literally passers-by: strangers whose character and skill no one has tested.

This is one of the most uncertain verses in Proverbs. Nearly every word of the first line can be read more than one way, and older versions give quite different senses, such as 'a master produces everything'. The second line is clearer, and the warning about careless hiring is not in doubt.

Proverbs 26:11

A dog goes back to eat what it threw up. A fool goes back and does the same silly thing again.

Like a dog going back to its vomit,

A dog throws up what made it sick and then returns to eat it again. The picture is meant to disgust.

so a fool does his folly over again.

The fool's folly made him sick once, and he goes back for more. He does not learn from what it did to him, which is exactly what makes him a fool.

כלב · kelev · dog: Not a pet. Dogs in Israel were half-wild scavengers and the word was an insult.
שוב · shuv · turn back, return: The usual word for turning back, and for repenting. Here the turning is in the wrong direction.
קא · qe · vomit: What the body has already rejected as harmful.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: The last picture of the kesil in this series.
שנה · shanah · do again: To do a second time. Related to the Hebrew word for two.
אולת · ivvelet · folly: The same word as verses 4 and 5.

The first line is quoted in 2 Peter 2:22 about people who knew the right way and went back to their old life.

Proverbs 26:12

Do you see someone who thinks he is so wise? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Have you seen a man who is wise in his own eyes?

After eleven verses on the fool, the reader is asked to picture someone else: the person fully convinced of his own wisdom.

A fool has more hope than he does.

This is the sting of the whole section. The fool, bad as he is, might still be taught by the rod. The self-certain man cannot be taught at all, because he sees nothing in himself to correct.

ראה · ra'ah · see: To see, to observe. The reader is invited to look around and recognise the type.
חכם · chakam · wise: As in verse 5, wise only in his own judgment. Compare 3:7.
עין · ayin · eye, opinion: Second use of the phrase. It comes once more in verse 16.
תקוה · tiqvah · hope, expectation: An expectation of a good outcome. The identical line closes 29:20, about a man hasty in his words.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool: Everything said about him in verses 1 to 11 now becomes the measure for someone worse.

Proverbs 26:13

The lazy person makes up reasons to stay home. He says, there is a lion out on the road, a lion in the middle of town!

The lazy man says, There is a lion on the road!

He gives a reason for not going out to work, and it is a wild one. He will name any danger rather than admit he does not want to move.

A lion is loose in the streets!

He repeats it with a second word for lion and puts the animal inside the town, where lions did not roam. The more absurd the excuse, the clearer it is that the real obstacle is himself.

עצל · atsel · sluggard: The habitually idle person. The word comes in each of the next four verses.
שחל · shachal · lion: A poetic word for lion.
דרך · derek · road, way of life: The road out of town to the fields, where the work is.
ארי · ari · lion: The ordinary word for lion. He uses two different words, as if listing two dangers.
רחוב · rechov · broad place: The open plazas of a town. Plural in Hebrew: among the squares.

Lions did live in ancient Israel, in the thickets of the Jordan valley and the wild country (Judges 14:5; 1 Samuel 17:34). They did not walk the town squares. Proverbs 22:13 gives the same excuse in other words.

Proverbs 26:14

A door swings back and forth on its hinges. A lazy person just turns over and over in bed.

A door turns on its hinge,

A door moves back and forth all day, yet it never goes anywhere, because it is fixed at one point.

and a lazy man on his bed.

The lazy man is the same. He turns from one side to the other, and that is all the motion there is. He is as attached to his bed as the door is to its post.

דלת · delet · door: The swinging leaf of a door.
סבב · savav · turn around: To go round, to turn about. One verb serves both the door and the man.
ציר · tsir · pivot, hinge: Singular in Hebrew: its pivot.
עצל · atsel · sluggard: Compare 6:9-10, where he is asked how long he will lie there.
מטה · mittah · bed, couch: A bed or couch, the place one stretches out.

Ancient doors did not hang on metal hinges like ours. A post on the edge of the door sat in a socket in the sill and another in the lintel, and the door pivoted in those sockets.

Proverbs 26:15

A lazy person puts his hand in the bowl of food. Then he is too tired to lift it back up to his mouth.

The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl;

He gets as far as reaching into the shared dish. Even he will do that much for food.

it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.

Then lifting the food to his mouth is too much effort. This is deliberate exaggeration: laziness, left alone, ends with a person unable to do even what keeps him alive.

עצל · atsel · sluggard: Nearly the same saying appears in 19:24.
טמן · taman · hide, bury: To hide something in the ground. His hand goes in and stays there as if buried.
צלחת · tsallachat · bowl, dish: A deep dish or bowl.
לאה · la'ah · be worn out: To be tired out, to find something too much.
פה · peh · mouth: The verb for bringing the hand back is a form of shuv, to return.

People ate with their hands from a common bowl in the middle, dipping bread into it. Compare Matthew 26:23.

Proverbs 26:16

A lazy person thinks he is smarter than seven people who give good, careful answers.

The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes

The surprise at the end of the portrait: he does not see himself as lazy at all. He thinks he is the clever one for avoiding effort.

than seven men who answer with good sense.

Seven is the number of completeness, so this is a full panel of sound advisers, and he trusts himself over all of them. His laziness has reached his mind: he will not do the work of listening either.

עצל · atsel · sluggard: Fourth and last time in this group.
חכם · chakam · wise: The same word as verses 5 and 12. By verse 12's standard the lazy man is worse off than the fool.
עין · ayin · eye, opinion: Third use of the phrase in the chapter.
שבע · sheva · seven: A round number for a full set. It returns in verse 25.
טעם · ta'am · taste, good sense: Literally taste, and so judgment or discernment. The men return an answer that has good sense in it.

Proverbs 26:17

Jumping into a fight that is not yours is like grabbing a dog by its ears.

Like someone who grabs a dog by the ears

Seize a half-wild dog by the ears and you are stuck. Hold on and it struggles; let go and it bites. You created the danger yourself and there is no clean way out.

is a passer-by who gets worked up over a quarrel that is not his.

Jumping into someone else's fight is the same. You had no part in it, you take hold of it anyway, and now both sides may turn on you.

חזק · chazaq · seize, hold fast: From a root meaning to be strong. In this form it means to grip firmly.
כלב · kelev · dog: As in verse 11, a street scavenger, not a tame animal.
אזן · ozen · ear: The most sensitive place to grab a dog and the surest way to anger it.
עבר · avar · get stirred up: A form of the same verb as passes by. Elsewhere this form means to become furious (14:16; 20:2), so the sense is getting heated over the quarrel.
ריב · riv · dispute, quarrel: A dispute, including a legal one. The Hebrew adds simply: not his.

There is a sound play: 'passing by' (over) and 'meddling' (mit'abber) are two forms of one verb. The word 'passing' could also be attached to the dog, giving 'a passing dog', a stray you have no business touching.

Proverbs 26:18

Think of a wild person shooting burning arrows that can kill.

Like a madman who shoots

The sentence runs across two verses. It opens with someone out of his mind and armed.

firebrands, arrows and death,

He is firing burning missiles and deadly arrows with no aim and no care who is hit. The comparison is finished in verse 19.

מתלהלה · mitlahleah · one acting like a madman: This word occurs only here. The context fixes its sense: a person behaving in a wild, senseless way.
ירה · yarah · throw, shoot: To throw or shoot, used of arrows.
זקים · ziqqim · firebrands: Burning missiles. The related word in Isaiah 50:11 means flaming torches.
מות · mavet · death: The list ends bluntly with what the missiles bring.

Proverbs 26:19

That is what someone is like who tricks his neighbour and then says, I was only joking!

so is a man who tricks his neighbor

This completes verse 18. The person who deceives someone close to him does the same kind of damage as the madman with the arrows.

and then says, I was only joking, wasn't I?

The excuse does not undo anything. An arrow fired in fun still wounds. Calling a deception a joke afterwards is a way of dodging blame for real harm.

רמה · ramah · deceive, trick: To mislead or betray. The noun mirmah, deceit, in verse 24 is from this root.
רע · rea · friend, neighbor: A companion or fellow, someone who had reason to trust him.
שחק · sachaq · laugh, play: To laugh or make sport. The same verb is used in 1:26 of Wisdom laughing.

Proverbs 26:20

A fire goes out when there is no more wood. A fight dies down when nobody is spreading stories about people.

When the wood runs out, the fire goes out,

A plain fact: fire lives on fuel. Stop feeding it and it dies by itself.

and where there is no whisperer, the quarrel falls silent.

Quarrels work the same way. They are kept going by someone carrying tales between the parties. Take that person away and the dispute dies down.

עץ · ets · wood, tree: Plural in Hebrew: sticks of firewood.
אש · esh · fire: The fire stands for the quarrel in this verse and the next.
כבה · kavah · be quenched: To be extinguished.
נרגן · nirgan · whisperer, slanderer: From a root meaning to murmur or grumble. Someone who talks about others behind their backs. See 16:28.
מדון · madon · strife: Contention, from a root meaning to judge or contend.
שתק · shataq · grow calm: To become quiet. Used of the sea calming in Jonah 1:11.

Proverbs 26:21

Coal keeps hot coals glowing, and wood keeps a fire burning. A person who loves to argue keeps fights going.

Charcoal for glowing coals and wood for fire,

The other side of verse 20. Add charcoal to embers or wood to a flame and it flares up.

and a quarrelsome man for setting a dispute alight.

A person who loves contention is fuel. Put him near any disagreement and it burns hotter. Verse 20 said how to end a quarrel; this says who keeps starting one.

פחם · pecham · charcoal: Black, unlit coal. The smith's fuel in Isaiah 44:12.
גחלת · gachelet · glowing coal: Coals already alight. Plural in Hebrew.
מדון · madon · strife: Literally a man of quarrels, the plural of the word in verse 20.
חרר · charar · burn, make hot: To scorch or make glow. The sound of the word, charchar, imitates crackling.
ריב · riv · dispute, quarrel: The same word as verse 17.

Proverbs 26:22

Stories about other people are like yummy treats. We gobble them up, and they sink deep down inside us.

A whisperer's words are like tasty bites;

This explains why gossip spreads. It is pleasant to take in, like a delicacy, and the hearer wants more.

they go down into the deepest rooms of the body.

What is swallowed does not stay on the surface. Gossip goes deep and stays, so it changes how you see the person spoken about long after you have forgotten who told you.

נרגן · nirgan · whisperer, slanderer: The same person as verse 20. This whole verse also appears as 18:8.
להם · laham · swallow greedily: The form occurs only here and in 18:8. It is understood as things gulped down eagerly.
ירד · yarad · go down: To descend. The words sink in.
חדרי בטן · chadrei beten · rooms of the belly: Cheder is an inner room, beten the belly. The innermost part of a person; the same phrase is in 20:27.

Proverbs 26:23

Warm words from a bad heart are like a cheap clay pot painted to look like shiny silver.

Like a silver coating of dross over a clay pot

A cheap pot is given a shiny surface so that it looks like silverware. The coating is not even real silver, only the scum left from refining it. Underneath it is still baked clay.

are burning lips with an evil heart.

Warm, eager words from a person who means harm are that coating. The glow is on the outside and what is underneath is worthless and hostile. This verse sets up the theme of the rest of the chapter.

חרש · cheres · baked clay, pottery: Common clay pottery, the cheapest material in the house.
כסף סיגים · keseph sigim · silver of dross: Sigim is the dross skimmed off when silver is refined (25:4). It shines like silver and is not.
דלק · dalaq · burn, be hot: To burn or blaze. Here it is fervent, ardent talk.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech: The lips stand for what a person says, the part others can observe.
לב רע · lev ra · evil heart: Lev is the heart as the seat of thought and intention; ra is bad or harmful.

Two details differ among versions. Some modern versions read 'glaze' in place of 'silver dross', following a proposed different division of the Hebrew letters. And the old Greek translation has 'smooth lips' where the Hebrew has 'burning lips', so some versions speak of smooth or flattering lips.

Proverbs 26:24

A person who hates you may hide it with nice words. Inside, he is planning to trick you.

A man who hates disguises himself with his lips,

The picture of verse 23 is now said plainly. A person who hates you may speak so that you would never recognise him as an enemy.

but inside himself he is storing up deceit.

This contrasts the outside with the inside. While the lips are friendly, he is laying up treachery within, ready for use.

שנא · sane · hate: A participle: a hater, an enemy.
נכר · nakar · make oneself unrecognisable: In this form, to act as a stranger or make oneself unrecognisable. The related form is used of Joseph before his brothers in Genesis 42:7.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech: His speech is the mask.
שית · shit · set, lay up: To put or place. He deliberately sets deceit in place inside himself.
מרמה · mirmah · deceit, treachery: From the same root as deceives in verse 19.
קרב · qerev · inner part: Not the usual word for heart here but the word for one's inside or midst.

Proverbs 26:25

When he talks sweetly, don't believe him. His heart is packed full of horrible things.

When he makes his voice charming, do not trust him,

A practical instruction following from verse 24. A pleasant tone from such a person is not evidence of goodwill, so do not rely on it.

for seven abominations are in his heart.

This is the reason. Seven means the full number: his heart is completely filled with things that are detestable, whatever his voice sounds like.

חנן · chanan · make gracious: The root of chen, grace. Literally he makes his voice gracious: he puts charm into it.
אמן · aman · trust, rely on: To treat as firm and reliable. The root of amen.
שבע · sheva · seven: The number of completeness, as in verse 16. Compare the seven abominations listed in 6:16-19.
תועבה · to'evah · detestable thing: Something loathsome, most often used of what the LORD detests.
לב · lev · heart, mind: The seat of thought and will. What is there is the truth about him.

Proverbs 26:26

He may hide his hate with tricks, but one day everyone will see the bad he has done.

Hatred may cover itself with deceit,

The concealment can succeed for a time. Hatred is able to wrap itself in a false front.

but its evil will be laid bare before the assembly.

This contrasts with the first line: what is covered will be uncovered, and in public. The hidden malice comes out in front of the gathered community, where it is seen and judged.

שנאה · sin'ah · hatred: The noun from sane, to hate. Compare 10:18.
כסה · kasah · cover, conceal: To cover over. The opposite of the verb in the next line.
משאון · masha'on · guile: This noun occurs only here. It comes from a verb meaning to deceive or beguile.
רעה · ra'ah · evil, harm: The evil he intends and does.
גלה · galah · uncover: To uncover or lay bare. Cover and uncover are set against each other.
קהל · qahal · gathered community: The gathered people, the body that heard cases and passed judgment. Compare 5:14.

Proverbs 26:27

If you dig a pit to trap someone, you will fall into it yourself. If you roll a stone at someone, it will roll back onto you.

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,

The pit is a trap dug for someone else. The one who made it ends up in it.

and whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

A second picture of the same law: a stone pushed uphill to drop on someone rolls back over the one pushing. Harm planned for others returns to its maker. In this context it is the hater of verses 24 to 26 who is in view.

כרה · karah · dig: To dig out, used of pits and wells.
שחת · shachat · pit, pitfall: A pit dug as a trap for game. The same picture is in Psalm 7:15 and Ecclesiastes 10:8.
נפל · naphal · fall: To fall. The trapper is the one trapped.
גלל · galal · roll: To roll, used of rolling large stones (Genesis 29:3).
אבן · even · stone: The same word as the slingstone of verse 8, which also came back on its user.
שוב · shuv · turn back, return: The verb of verse 11. There the fool returned to his folly; here the harm returns to its author.

Proverbs 26:28

A person who tells lies hates the people he hurts with them. And someone who says nice things he doesn't mean wrecks people's lives.

A lying tongue hates the people it has crushed,

Lying about someone is an act of hatred, not a neutral slip. And having injured them, the liar goes on hating them, since people tend to hate those they have wronged.

and a smooth mouth brings about a downfall.

Flattery looks like the opposite of slander, but the result is the same. Smooth talk trips people up and brings them down. The chapter's closing verse puts the liar and the flatterer side by side as destroyers.

לשון שקר · lashon sheqer · tongue of falsehood: Lashon is the tongue; sheqer is falsehood. One of the seven things the LORD hates in 6:17.
שנא · sane · hate: The verb behind the hater of verse 24 and the hatred of verse 26.
דך · dak · crushed, oppressed: Literally its crushed ones. The word describes the oppressed in Psalm 9:9.
פה חלק · peh chalaq · smooth mouth: Chalaq means smooth or slippery. The smooth surface again, as with the coated pot of verse 23.
מדחה · midcheh · a downfall: This noun occurs only here. It comes from a verb meaning to push down or make stumble.

The first line is compressed and some versions take it as 'a lying tongue hates its victims', others as 'hates those it afflicts'. The sense is the same: the liar's target is someone he is crushing.