Proverbs 26

¹Like snow in the summer and like rain at the harvest,

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

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

⁴Do not answer a fool according to his folly

⁵Answer a fool according to his folly,

⁶Like cutting off feet or drinking violence,

⁷Like legs that hang limp from a lame person,

⁸Like binding a stone in a sling,

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

¹⁰Like an archer who wounds everyone,

¹¹Like a dog returning to his vomit

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

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

¹⁴The door turns on its hinge,

¹⁵A lazy person buries his hands in the dish;

¹⁶A lazy person is wiser in his eyes

¹⁷Grabbing onto the ears of a dog

¹⁸Like a maniac who shoots

¹⁹so is a man who deceives his neighbor,

²⁰For lack of wood, a fire goes out,

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

²²The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels,

²³Like impure silver which overlays an earthen vessel,[#Literally “silver of impurities”]

²⁴On his lips, an enemy will pretend,

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

²⁶Though hatred is covered with guile,

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

²⁸A tongue of deceit hates its victim,