Proverbs 26:1-19 ▼

1 LIKE snow in summer and like rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool.

2 Like sparrows wandering and like birds flying in the air, so the curse that is causeless shall be driven away.

3 A whip for the horse, a goad for the ass, and a rod for the back of a fool.

4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be also like him.

5 But answer a fool according to your wisdom, lest he think in himself that he is wise.

6 He who sends a message by the hand of a fool drinks iniquity from under his own feet.

7 As a lame man who cannot walk, so is a parable in the mouth of a fool.

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

9 Thorns spring up in the hand of a drunkard, and folly in the mouth of a fool.

10 The body of a fool is greatly afflicted, and a drunkard thinks that he can cross a sea.

11 As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool that misbehaves in his folly.

12 If you should see a man wise in his own eyes, a fool is much better than he.

13 The sluggard says, when he is sent out, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.

14 As a door turns upon its hinges, so does the slothful turn on his bed.

15 The slothful hides his hands in his bosom; it grieves him to bring them again to his mouth.

16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men with good reasoning.

17 He who meddles with a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears.

18 Like haughty men who utter words sharp and deadly as arrows,

19 So is the man who deceives his neighbor; when he is caught, he says, I was merely jesting.