Proverbs 26

1 Like dew at harvest and rain in summer, honor does not suit a fool.

2 As birds and sparrows fly away, a futile curse will come upon no one.

3 A whip is for a horse, a goad for a donkey, and a rod for a lawbreaking nation.

4 Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness, so that you do not become like him.

5 But answer a fool according to his foolishness, so that he does not appear wise to himself.

6 Whoever sends a message through a foolish messenger drinks reproach from his own feet.

7 Take away movement from legs and a proverb from the mouth of fools.

8 Whoever ties a stone in a sling is like someone who gives glory to a fool.

9 Thorns grow in a drunkard’s hand, and slavery in the hand of fools.

10 All the flesh of fools endures many storms, for their frenzy is crushed.

11 Like a dog that returns to its own vomit and becomes hated is a fool who returns through his own evil to his own sin. There is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that brings glory and favor.

12 I have seen a person who appeared wise to himself, but a fool had more hope than he did.

13 A lazy person sent on a journey says, “There is a lion on the roads.”

14 Like a door turning on its hinge is a lazy person on his bed.

15 A lazy person keeps his hand tucked in his lap and cannot raise it to his mouth.

16 A lazy person appears wiser to himself than someone who delivers a message fully.

17 Like someone who grabs a dog’s tail is a person who takes charge of someone else’s dispute.

18 Just as healers present sayings to people, while the first person to encounter the saying will be tripped up,

19 so are all who ambush their own friends and, when discovered, say, “I did it as a joke.”

20 A fire flourishes where there is much wood, but a quarrel becomes quiet where there is no double-minded person.

21 A hearth is for coals and wood for fire, and an abusive person is for the turmoil of a quarrel.

22 The words of sly people are soft, but they strike the innermost chambers of the body.

23 Silver given with deceit should be regarded like a piece of pottery; smooth lips cover a sorrowful heart.

24 A weeping enemy agrees to everything with his lips, but in his heart he constructs deceit.

25 If your enemy pleads with you loudly, do not believe him, for seven evils are in his soul.

26 Whoever hides hostility establishes deceit, but one who is easily recognized in councils exposes his own sins.

27 Whoever digs a pit for his neighbor will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone rolls it onto himself.

28 A lying tongue hates truth, and an unguarded mouth causes disorder.