As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.

PROVERBS 26:1KJV
Know the Bible

Proverbs 26:1 (KJV)

What does Proverbs 26:1 mean?

Proverbs 26:1 says that giving honour to a fool is out of place. The saying treats honour as public recognition or esteem and a fool as someone who rejects good judgment.

The verse uses two images from the natural world. Snow in summer is unexpected, while rain during the dry harvest season could damage crops. Both pictures prepare the reader for the judgment in the second half of the saying.

The Hebrew behind Proverbs 26:1

  • “honour” — כָּבוֹד (kavod): The word can mean honour, dignity, or high standing. Here it points to the esteem a person is given by others.
  • “seemly” — נָאוָה (navah): The word carries the sense of being fitting or suitable. The KJV’s “not seemly” means that honour does not fit the person described.
  • “fool” — כְּסִיל (kesil): In Proverbs, this word often describes someone who resists wisdom and sound judgment. The concern is a person’s conduct, not simply a lack of information.

Why Proverbs 26:1 matters

  • The verse questions whether honour is deserved, not whether honour itself is good. Its comparison turns on the fit between “honour” and “a fool.”
  • The wider passage also connects honour with the harm a fool can cause. Proverbs 26:8 compares giving honour to a fool to tying a stone in a sling, a picture of something made dangerous rather than useful.

Where else these words appear

“seemly” Hebrew H5000 · used in 9 verses

  • Psalms 33:1 Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
  • Proverbs 17:7 Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
  • Song of Solomon 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

“snow” Hebrew H7950 · used in 20 verses

  • Exodus 4:6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
  • Job 9:30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
  • Psalms 148:8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:

“summer” Hebrew H7019 · used in 20 verses

  • Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
  • Proverbs 10:5 He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.
  • Jeremiah 40:12 Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.

“rain” Hebrew H4306 · used in 36 verses

  • Exodus 9:33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
  • 2 Samuel 23:4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
  • Job 37:6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.