Proverbs 26

1Like snow in summer and like rain at harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.

2Like a bird in its wandering, like a swallow in its flight, so an undeserved curse does not come.

3A whip for the horse, a bit for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools.

4Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also become like him.

5Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

6One who sends messages by the hand of a fool cuts off his feet and drinks violence.

7The legs of a lame person hang limp, and so does a proverb in the mouth of fools.

8Like one who binds a stone in a sling, so is one who gives honor to a fool.

9Like a thorn that comes up in the hand of a drunkard, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

10Like an archer who wounds everyone is one who hires a fool or hires passersby.

11Like a dog returning to its vomit, so a fool 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 lion in the road! A lion in the public squares!”

14As a door turns on its hinge, so a sluggard on his bed.

15A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too weary to bring it back to his mouth.

16A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven who answer with discernment.

17Like one who grabs a dog by the ears is a passerby who gets involved in a quarrel not his own.

18Like a madman who shoots firebrands, arrows, and death,

19So is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Am I not only joking?”

20For lack of wood, the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, strife grows quiet.

21Charcoal for embers and wood for fire, and a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

22The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels, and they go down into the inner chambers of the belly.

23Like silver dross overlaid on earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart.

24A hater disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors deceit within him.

25When he speaks graciously, do not trust him, for seven abominations are in his heart.

26Though hatred is covered with deceit, his evil will be exposed in the assembly.

27Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

28A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.