¹Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest,

So glory is not fitting for a fool.

²Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in flying,[#26:2 Lit wandering]

So a curse without cause does not come to pass .

³A whip is 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 yourself also be like him.

⁵Answer a fool according to his folly,

Lest he be wise in his own eyes.

⁶He cuts off his own feet and drinks violence

Who sends words by the hand of a fool.

⁷Like the legs which hang limp on the lame,

So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

⁸Like one who binds a stone in a sling,[#26:8 Lit the binding of]

So is he who gives glory to a fool.

⁹Like a thorn which goes up into the hand of a drunkard,

So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

¹⁰Like an archer who wounds everyone,[#26:10 Or A master workman produces all things, But he who hires a fool is like one who hires those who pass by]

So is he who hires a fool or who hires those who pass by.

¹¹Like a dog that returns to its vomit

Is a fool who repeats his folly.

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

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³The sluggard says, “There is a fierce lion in the road!

A lion is among the streets!”

¹⁴As the door turns on its hinges,

So does the sluggard on his bed.

¹⁵The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;

He is too weary to return it to his mouth.

¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes

Than seven men who can respond with a discreet answer.

¹⁷Like one who seizes a dog by the ears

Is he who passes by and becomes passionate about strife not belonging to him.

¹⁸Like a madman who shoots

Firebrands, arrows, and death,

¹⁹So is the man who deceives his neighbor,

And says, “Am I not joking?”

²⁰With no wood the fire goes out,

And where there is no whisperer, strife quiets down.

²¹Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,

So is a contentious man to kindle strife.

²²The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,

And they go down into the innermost parts of the stomach.

²³Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross

Are fiery lips and an evil heart.

²⁴He who hates disguises it with his lips,

But he sets up deceit within himself.

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

For there are seven abominations in his heart.

²⁶Though his hatred covers itself with guile,

His evil will be revealed in the assembly.

²⁷He who digs a pit will fall into it,

And he who rolls a stone, it will turn back on him.

²⁸A lying tongue hates those it crushes,[#26:28 Lit its crushed ones]

And a flattering mouth works ruin.