Proverbs 26:8

8. As he that bindeth a stone The margin reads: “As he that putteth a precious stone into a heap of stones.” The reading of the text is supported by the Septuagint and Syriac, and is preferred by some very reputable modern critics. The moral is the same in both forms, namely: the folly or uselessness of giving honour preferment, responsibility to a fool that is, an incapable and wicked man. These are some of the translations of the first clause: “As a bag of gems in a heap of stones” a proverbial expression like that in Matthew 7:6, casting pearls before swine. So Gesenius: “As a grain of precious stone in a heap of stones, so is he,” etc.

The precious stone in one case, and the honour in the other, is thrown away and lost. The Douay, following the Vulgate, reads: “As he that casteth a stone into a heap of mercury, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.” Did the translator take margemah for Mercury, the heathen god of the highways? But Schultens takes מרגמה , ( margemah,) which occurs only here, and is rendered sling in the Authorized Version, to denote a heap of stones cast over a person stoned to death. This explanation would make the proverb more poignant. “The honour given to a fool is compared to a stone flung at a heap already thrown at a criminal stoned to death. It but adds to his shame. As the confining a precious stone in the sepulchral heap of an executed malefactor, where it must be disgraced, if not lost, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.” Zockler, Conant, and Miller prefer the old rendering, “a stone in a sling.” The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic support our Authorized Version. Miller maintains that the binding the stone in the sling means simply putting it there to be thrown, and, hence, to damage those it reaches.