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,

a curse without cause shall not alight.

³A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,[#Ps 32:9]

a rod is for the back of a fool.

⁴Answer not a fool according to his folly,

lest you also be like him.

⁵Answer a fool according to his folly,

lest he be wise in his own eyes.

⁶He who sends a message by the hand of a fool[#Pr 10:26]

cuts off his feet and drinks violence.

⁷Like the legs of the lame that hang limp,

so is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

⁸Like he who binds a stone in a sling,

so is he who gives honor to a fool.

⁹Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard,

is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

¹⁰Like an archer who wounds all

so is he who hires the fool or the passerby.

¹¹Like a dog that returns to its vomit,[#2Pe 2:22]

so a fool returns to his folly.

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

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³The sluggard 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 sluggard on his bed.

¹⁵The sluggard hides his hand in his dish;

it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.

¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes[#Pr 26:12]

than seven men who render a reason.

¹⁷Like he who takes a passing dog by the ears,

is one who meddles in a quarrel not his own.

¹⁸Like a madman who throws

firebrands, arrows, and death,

¹⁹so is the man who deceives his neighbor,

and says, “I am only joking!”

²⁰Where there is no wood, the fire goes out;

so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceases.

²¹As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,

so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

²²The words of a slanderer are like tasty morsels;

they go down into the innermost parts of the heart.

²³Like the silver of dross covering an earthen vessel

are the lips of a fervent woman with an evil heart.

²⁴He who hates disguises it with his lips,

and within his heart, he harbors deceit;

²⁵when his speech is gracious, do not believe him,[#Ps 28:3]

for there are seven abominations in his heart;

²⁶though his hatred is covered by guile,

his wickedness will be exposed before the congregation.

²⁷He who digs a pit will fall into it,[#Est 7:10; Pr 28:10]

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

²⁸A lying tongue hates those that are crushed by it,

and a flattering mouth works ruin.