Proverbs 26

Proverbs 26

¹Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,[#1 Sam 12.17]

so honor is not fitting for a fool.

²Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,[#Num 23.8; Deut 23.5]

an undeserved curse goes nowhere.

³A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,[#Ps 32.9]

and a rod for the back of fools.

⁴Do not answer fools according to their folly,[#Prov 23.9; 29.9]

lest you be a fool yourself.

⁵Answer fools according to their folly,[#Mt 16.1–4; 21.24–27]

lest they 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 lame person hang limp;[#v 9]

so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

⁸It is like binding a stone in a sling[#v 1]

to give honor to a fool.

⁹Like a thornbush brandished by the hand of a drunkard[#v 7]

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[#Ex 8.15; 2 Pet 2.22]

is a fool who reverts to his folly.

¹²Do you see people wise in their own eyes?[#v 5 ; Prov 3.7; 29.20]

There is more hope for fools than for them.

¹³The lazy person says, “There is a lion in the road![#Prov 22.13]

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[#Prov 19.24]

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 someone who takes a passing dog by the ears[#Prov 3.30]

is one who meddles in the quarrel of another.

¹⁸Like a maniac who shoots deadly firebrands and arrows,[#Isa 50.11]

¹⁹so is one who deceives a neighbor[#Prov 24.28]

and says, “I am only joking!”

²⁰For lack of wood the fire goes out,[#Prov 16.28; 22.10]

and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.

²¹As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire,[#Prov 15.18]

so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.

²²The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;[#Prov 18.8]

they go down into the inner parts of the body.

²³Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel[#26.23 Cn: Heb silver of dross]

are smooth lips with an evil heart.

²⁴An enemy dissembles in speaking[#Prov 10.18; 12.20]

while harboring deceit within;

²⁵when an enemy speaks graciously, do not believe it,[#Ps 28.3; Jer 9.8]

for there are seven abominations concealed within;

²⁶though hatred is covered with guile,[#Mt 23.28; Lk 8.17]

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

²⁷Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,[#Ps 7.15; Prov 28.10; Eccl 10.8]

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

²⁸A lying tongue hates its victims,[#Prov 29.5]

and a flattering mouth works ruin.