Proverbs 26:1-18

26:1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,

so honor is not fitting for a fool.

26:2 Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow,

so a curse without cause does not come to rest.

26:3 A whip for the horse and a bridle for the donkey,

and a rod for the backs of fools!

26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,

lest you yourself also be like him.

26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly,

lest he be wise in his own estimation.

26:6 Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence,

so is sending a message by the hand of a fool.

26:7 Like legs that hang limp from the lame,

so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

26:8 Like tying a stone in a sling,

so is giving honor to a fool.

26:9 Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard,

so is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

26:10 Like an archer who wounds at random,

so is the one who hires a fool or hires any passer-by.

26:11 Like a dog that returns to its vomit,

so a fool repeats his folly.

26:12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

26:13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!

A lion in the streets!”

26:14 Like a door that turns on its hinges,

so a sluggard turns on his bed.

26:15 The sluggard plunges his hand in the dish;

he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.

26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own estimation

than seven people who respond with good sense.

26:17 Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears,

so is the person passing by who becomes furious over a quarrel not his own.

26:18 Like a madman who shoots

firebrands and deadly arrows,