Proverbs 26
Similitudes and Instructions
¹ Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor does not befit a fool.
² Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
³ A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!
⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.
⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.
⁶ Like cutting off one’s own feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.
⁷ Like lame legs hanging limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
⁸ Like binding a stone into a sling is the giving of honor to a fool.
⁹ Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
¹⁰ Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or passerby.
¹¹ As a dog returns to its vomit,1 so a fool repeats his folly.
¹² Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
¹³ The slacker says, “A lion is in the road! A fierce lion roams the public square!”
¹⁴ As a door turns on its hinges, so the slacker turns on his bed.
¹⁵ The slacker buries his hand in the dish; it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.
¹⁶ The slacker is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly.
¹⁷ Like one who grabs a dog by the ears is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own.
¹⁸ Like a madman shooting firebrands and deadly arrows,
¹⁹ so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”
²⁰ Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases.
²¹ Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.
²³ Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning 2 lips and a wicked heart.
²⁴ A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.
²⁵ When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.
²⁶ Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
²⁷ He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.
²⁸ A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.