Proverbs 26

¹Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,

so honor is not fitting for a fool.

²Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,

an undeserved curse goes nowhere.

³A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,

and a rod for the back of fools.

⁴Do not answer fools according to their folly,

or you will be a fool yourself.

⁵Answer fools according to their folly,

or they will be wise in their own eyes.

⁶It is like cutting off one’s foot and drinking down violence,

to send a message by a fool.

⁷The legs of a disabled person hang limp;

so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

⁸It is like binding a stone in a sling

to give honor to a fool.

⁹Like a thornbush brandished by the hand of a drunkard

is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

¹⁰Like an archer who wounds everybody

is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.

¹¹Like a dog that returns to its vomit

is a fool who reverts to his folly.

¹²Do you see persons wise in their own eyes?

There is more hope for fools than for them.

¹³The lazy person says, “There is a lion in the road!

There is a lion in the streets!”

¹⁴As a door turns on its hinges,

so does a lazy person in bed.

¹⁵The lazy person buries a hand in the dish,

and is too tired to bring it back to the mouth.

¹⁶The lazy person is wiser in self-esteem

than seven who can answer discreetly.

¹⁷Like somebody who takes a passing dog by the ears

is one who meddles in the quarrel of another.

¹⁸Like a maniac who shoots deadly firebrands and arrows,

¹⁹so is one who deceives a neighbor

and says, “I am only joking!”

²⁰For lack of wood the fire goes out,

and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.

²¹As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire,

so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.

²²The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;

they go down into the inner parts of the body.

²³Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel

are smooth lips with an evil heart.

²⁴An enemy dissembles in speaking

while harboring deceit within;

²⁵when an enemy speaks graciously, do not believe it,

for there are seven abominations concealed within;

²⁶though hatred is covered with guile,

the enemy’s wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

²⁷Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,

and a stone will come back on the one who starts it rolling.

²⁸A lying tongue hates its victims,

and a flattering mouth works ruin.