Proverbs 26

Evangelical Heritage Version

26 Like snow during summer and rain during the harvest,
so honor is not appropriate for a fool.
² Like a migrating bird or a flying swallow,
so an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
³ A whip is for horses, a bridle for donkeys,
and a rod for the backs of fools.

⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly.
If you do, you yourself will become like him.
⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly.
If you do not, he will consider himself wise.

⁶ It is like cutting off your own feet or drinking violence^[a]
when a person sends messages in the hand of a fool.
⁷ The legs of a lame person dangle.
So does a proverb in the mouth of fools.
⁸ Giving honor to a fool is
    like tying a stone in a slingshot.
⁹ A proverb in the mouth of a fool
    is like a thorn in a drunkard’s hand.
¹⁰ One who hires a fool or someone just passing by
    is like an archer who wounds at random.^[b]
11 As a dog returns to his vomit,
so a fool repeats his stupidity.
¹² Have you seen a person who is wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³ A lazy person says, “There’s a ferocious lion in the street.
There’s a lion in the public square!”
¹⁴ A door turns on its hinges,
and a lazy person turns on his bed.
¹⁵ A lazy person buries his hand in a dish,
but he is too tired to return it to his mouth.
¹⁶ A lazy person considers himself wiser
than seven people who answer sensibly.

¹⁷ A passerby who meddles in a quarrel that is not his
is like a person who grabs a dog by the ears.
¹⁸ A person who deceives his neighbor and then says, “I was only joking,”
¹⁹ is like a madman who shoots firebrands and deadly arrows.^[c]

²⁰ When there is no more wood, a fire goes out,
and without gossip, a quarrel dies down.
²¹ As charcoal is to hot embers and as wood is to fire,
so a quarrelsome person is to igniting a fight.

²² Words of a gossip are like food that is easy to swallow.
They go down to the depths of one’s heart.^[d]
23 Fervent^[e] lips and an evil heart
are like a glaze^[f] covering a clay pot.
²⁴ With his lips a person hides his hatred,
but he hides deceit inside.
²⁵ When his voice sounds gracious, do not believe him,
because seven abominations are in his heart.
²⁶ His hatred covers itself with deceit,
but his evil will be revealed in the assembly.

²⁷ The person who digs a pit will fall into it.
The person who rolls away a stone—it will roll back over him.
²⁸ A lying tongue hates those it crushes,
and a smooth mouth causes ruin.