He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.
The proverb is a writing of Solomon from about the year 1000, one of his three thousand proverbs. It belongs to the collection beginning with chapter 25, selected from among Solomon's many writings. That collection was copied out by the scribes of Hezekiah about three hundred years after Solomon. To entrust a message to a fool defeats the purpose of sending it and brings harm and damage. The injury falls on the sender himself, as disabling as cutting off one's own feet, because the folly of such a messenger makes the errand unreliable.
The proverb is a writing of Solomon from about the year 1000, one of his three thousand proverbs. It belongs to the collection beginning with chapter 25, selected from among Solomon's many writings. That collection was copied out by the scribes of Hezekiah about three hundred years after Solomon. To entrust a message to a fool defeats the purpose of sending it and brings harm and damage. The injury falls on the sender himself, as disabling as cutting off one's own feet, because the folly of such a messenger makes the errand unreliable.