Proverbs 26:6 (KJV)

What does Proverbs 26:6 mean?

Proverbs 26:6 says that a person who entrusts a message to a fool brings trouble on themselves. The sender has chosen someone whose poor judgment makes the task likely to go wrong, so the sender suffers from the choice.

“Cutteth off the feet” pictures a messenger made unable to travel. “Drinketh damage” adds an image of taking harm into oneself, as though drinking it. Together, the pictures describe both the failed errand and its painful consequences.

The Hebrew behind Proverbs 26:6

• “fool” — כְּסִיל (kesil): This word often describes a person who lacks good judgment. In Proverbs, a fool is more than someone who knows little; the term often points to a person who resists correction.
• “damage” — חָמָס (ḥamas): This word can mean violence, wrongdoing, or harm. The picture of drinking gives the harm a forceful, personal quality: the sender takes it in.

Why Proverbs 26:6 matters

• The verse puts the consequences on the sender, not only on the messenger. The person who “sendeth a message” is also the one pictured as cutting off feet and drinking damage.
• The verse belongs to a series of sayings about the difficulty of entrusting things to a fool. Nearby, Proverbs 26:8 compares giving honor to a fool to tying a stone in a sling, another picture of something being put to the wrong use.