Proverbs 26

26Like snow in the summer and like rain at the harvest,

so honor is not fitting for a fool.

²Like the sparrow is to fluttering and like the swallow is to flying,

so an undeserved curse does not go forth.

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

and a rod for the back of fools.

⁴Do not answer a fool according to his folly

lest you become like him—even you.

⁵Answer a fool according to his folly,

or else he will be wise in his own eyes.

⁶Like cutting off feet or drinking violence,

so is he who sends messages in the hand of a fool.

⁷Like legs that hang limp from a lame person,

so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

⁸Like binding a stone in a sling,

so is giving honor to a fool.

⁹Like a thorn that goes up in the hand of a drunkard,

so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

¹⁰Like an archer who wounds everyone,

so is he who hires a fool or he who hires passersby.

¹¹Like a dog returning to his vomit

is a fool reverting to his folly.

¹²Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³A lazy person says “A lion is in the road!

A lion among the streets!”

¹⁴The door turns on its hinge,

and a lazy person on his bed.

¹⁵A lazy person buries his hands in the dish;

he is too tired to return it to his mouth.

¹⁶A lazy person is wiser in his eyes

than seven who answer discreetly.

¹⁷Grabbing onto the ears of a dog

passing by is one who meddles in a quarrel that is not his own.

¹⁸Like a maniac who shoots

firebrands, arrows, and death,

¹⁹so is a man who deceives his neighbor,

but says “Am I not joking?”

²⁰For lack of wood, a fire goes out,

and where there is no whisperer, quarreling will cease.

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

so a man of quarrels is to kindling strife.

²²The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels,

and they go down to the inner parts of the body.

²³Like impure silver^a which overlays an earthen vessel,

so are smooth lips and an evil heart^b.

²⁴On his lips, an enemy will pretend,

but inside^c he will harbor deceit.

²⁵When he makes his voice gracious, do not believe him,

for seven abominations are in his heart.

²⁶Though hatred is covered with guile,

its evil will be exposed in the assembly.

²⁷He who digs a pit, in it he will fall,

and he who rolls a stone, on him it will come back.

²⁸A tongue of deceit hates its victim,

and a flattering mouth makes ruin.