Proverbs 26

26 ¹ Like snow in summer and like rain at harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool. ² Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. ³ A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools. ⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. ⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. ⁶ Whoever sends a message through a fool cuts off his own feet and drinks down violence. ⁷ Like the legs of a lame man hanging useless is a proverb in the mouth of fools. ⁸ Like binding a stone in a sling is giving honor to a fool. ⁹ Like a thornbush in the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of fools. ¹⁰ Like an archer who wounds everyone is one who hires a fool or hires any passerby. ¹¹ As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. ¹² Do you see someone wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³ The lazy person says, "There is a lion in the road! A lion in the streets!" ¹⁴ As a door turns on its hinges, so the lazy person turns on his bed. ¹⁵ The lazy person buries his hand in the dish; it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. ¹⁶ The lazy person is wiser in his own eyes than seven who answer wisely.

¹⁷ Like grabbing a dog by the ears is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own.

¹⁸ Like a madman shooting firebrands, arrows, and death, ¹⁹ so is the one who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking!"

²⁰ Without wood a fire goes out, and without a gossip a quarrel dies down. ²¹ As charcoal to embers and wood to fire, so a quarrelsome person kindles strife. ²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they sink down into the inmost parts.

²³ Like a glaze covering an earthen pot are smooth lips with an evil heart. ²⁴ An enemy disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit. ²⁵ When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. ²⁶ Though his hatred is hidden by deceit, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. ²⁷ Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone rolls back on the one who rolls it. ²⁸ A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin.