Proverbs 26 is the 26th chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of several wisdom literature collections, with the heading in 1:1 may be intended to regard Solomon as the traditional author of the whole book, but the dates of the individual collections are difficult to determine, and the book probably obtained its final shape in the post-exilic period. This chapter is the last part of the fifth collection of the book, so-called "the Second Solomonic Collection."
The following table shows the Hebrew text of Proverbs 26 with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC; some extant ancient manuscripts of this version include Codex Vaticanus (B; <sup>B</sup>; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: <sup>S</sup>; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; <sup>A</sup>; 5th century).
This chapter belongs to a further collection of Solomonic proverbs, transmitted and edited by royal scribes during the reign of Hezekiah, comprising Proverbs 25âÂÂ29. Based on differences in style and subject-matter there could be two originally separate collections:
The first twelve verses of this chapter, except verse 2, "Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight", form a series of sayings on the 'fool', so sometimes are called âÂÂthe Book of FoolsâÂÂ.