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26Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
so honor is not fitting for a fool.
²Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,
an undeserved curse goes nowhere.
³A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the back of fools.
⁴Do not answer fools according to their folly,
or you will be a fool yourself.
⁵Answer fools according to their folly,
or they will 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 disabled person hang limp;
so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
⁸It is like binding a stone in a sling
to give honor to a fool.
⁹Like a thornbush brandished by the hand of a drunkard
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
is a fool who reverts to his folly.
¹²Do you see persons wise in their own eyes?
There is more hope for fools than for them.
¹³The lazy person says, “There is a lion in the road!
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,
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 somebody who takes a passing dog by the ears
is one who meddles in the quarrel of another.
¹⁸Like a maniac who shoots deadly firebrands and arrows, ¹⁹so is one who deceives a neighbor
and says, “I am only joking!”
²⁰For lack of wood the fire goes out,
and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.
²¹As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
²²The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
they go down into the inner parts of the body.
²³Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel
are smooth lips with an evil heart.
²⁴An enemy dissembles in speaking
while harboring deceit within;
²⁵when an enemy speaks graciously, do not believe it,
for there are seven abominations concealed within;
²⁶though hatred is covered with guile,
the enemy’s wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
²⁷Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,
and a stone will come back on the one who starts it rolling.
²⁸A lying tongue hates its victims,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.