1Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.
2Like a sparrow in its fluttering, like a swallow in its flying, so an undeserved curse does not alight.
3A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.
4Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you yourself become like him.
5Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.
6One who cuts off his own feet, who drinks violence, is he who sends messages by the hand of a fool.
7The legs of a lame man hang useless; so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
8Like binding a stone in a sling, so is one who gives honor to a fool.
9Like a thornbush that comes up in the hand of a drunkard, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
10Like an archer who wounds everyone, so is one who hires a fool or hires those passing by.
11Like a dog returning to its vomit, so is a fool repeating his folly.
12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
13The sluggard says, ‘A lion is in the road! A lion is between the streets!’
14The door turns on its hinge, and the sluggard on his bed.
15The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too weary to bring it back to his mouth.
16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven who answer with discretion.
17One who seizes a dog by the ears is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own.
18Like a madman who shoots firebrands, arrows, and death,
19so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, ‘Was I not only joking?’
20Without wood a fire goes out, and without a slanderer strife grows quiet.
21As charcoal to embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man for kindling strife.
22The words of a slanderer are like things greedily swallowed; they go down into the chambers of the belly.
23Like silver dross glazed over an earthen vessel are burning lips and an evil heart.
24With his lips the one who hates disguises himself, but within him he harbors deceit.
25When he makes his voice gracious, do not believe him, for seven abominations are in his heart.
26Though hatred is covered by deceit, his evil will be uncovered in the assembly.
27Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone, it will return upon him.
28A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Open in the interactive reader →