26:1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
so honor 1 is not fitting for a fool. 2
26:2 Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow,
so a curse without cause 3 does not come to rest. 4
26:3 A whip for the horse and a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the backs of fools! 5
26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, 6
lest you yourself also be like him. 7
26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, 8
lest he be wise in his own estimation. 9
26:6 Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence, 10
so is sending 11 a message by the hand of a fool. 12
26:7 Like legs that hang limp 13 from the lame,
so 14 is a proverb 15 in the mouth of fools.
26:8 Like tying a stone in a sling, 16
so is giving honor to a fool.
26:9 Like a thorn 17 that goes into the hand of a drunkard,
so is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. 18
26:10 Like an archer who wounds at random, 19
so is the one who hires 20 a fool or hires any passer-by.
26:11 Like a dog that returns to its vomit, 21
so a fool repeats his folly. 22
26:12 Do you see 23 a man wise in his own eyes? 24
There is more hope for a fool 25 than for him.
26:13 The sluggard 26 says, “There is a lion in the road!
A lion in the streets!” 27
26:14 Like 28 a door that turns on its hinges, 29
so a sluggard turns 30 on his bed.
26:15 The sluggard plunges 31 his hand in the dish;
he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. 32
26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own estimation 33
than seven people who respond with good sense. 34
26:17 Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears, 35
so is the person passing by who becomes furious 36 over a quarrel not his own.