Proverbs 26

1Like snow in summer and rain at harvesttime,So honor is not fitting for a dullard.

2As a sparrow must flit and a swallow fly,So a gratuitous curse must backfire., “fail.”

3A whip for a horse and a bridle for a donkey,And a rod for the back of dullards.

4Do not answer a dullard in accord with his folly,Else you will become like him.

5Answer a dullard in accord with his folly,Else he will think himself wise.

6One who sends a message by a dullardWill wear out legs and must put up with lawlessness.

7As legs hang limp on a cripple,So is a proverb in the mouth of dullards.

8Like a pebble in a sling,So is paying honor to a dullard.

9As a thorn comes to the hand of a drunkard,So a proverb to the mouth of a dullard.

10A master can produce anything, But anyone who hires a dullard is as one who hires transients.

11As a dog returns to its vomit,So a dullard repeats his folly.

12If you see a man who thinks himself wise,There is more hope for a dullard than for him.

13The sluggard says,“There’s a cub on the road, a lion in the squares.”

14The door turns upon the hinge,And the sluggard upon the bed.

15The sluggard buries a hand in the bowl,And will not even bring it to the mouth.

16In self-regard, the sluggard is wiserThan seven who give good advice.

17A passerby who gets embroiled in someone else’s quarrelIs like one who seizes a dog by its ears.

18Like a lunatic scattering deadly firebrands, arrows,

19Is the man who cheats his fellow and says, “I was only joking.”

20For lack of wood a fire goes out,And without a grumbler contention is stilled.

21Charcoal for embers and wood for a fireAnd a contentious man for kindling strife.

22The words of a grumbler are bruising; They penetrate one’s inmost parts.

23Base silver laid over earthenwareAre ardent lips with an evil mind.

24An enemy dissembles with his speech,Inwardly he harbors deceit.

25Though he be fair-spoken do not trust him,For seven abominations are in his mind.

26His hatred may be concealed by dissimulation,But his evil will be exposed to public view.

27One who digs a pit will fall in it,And a stone will roll back upon the one who is rolling it.

28A lying tongue hates those crushed by it; Smooth speech throws one down.