Proverbs / Folly and Foolish Behavior in Speech and Deeds

Folly and Foolish Behavior in Speech and Deeds

Proverbs 26:1-28

Chapter 26

¹ Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest, so glory is not fitting for a fool. ² Like a bird that flutters, like a swallow that flies, so a curse without cause will come to him. ³ A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for a nation of fools. ⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. ⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. ⁶ He drinks violence from cut-off feet; he sends words in the hand of a fool. ⁷ The legs of the poor hang loose, and a proverb in the mouth of fools. ⁸ Like a stone bundle in a sling, so is one who gives honor to a fool. ⁹ A thorn goes into the hand of a drunkard, and a proverb in the mouth of fools. ¹⁰ The chief officer profanes all and hires a fool and hires passersby. ¹¹ As a dog that returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. ¹² You have seen a man wise in his own eyes—there is more hope for a fool than for him. ¹³ The sluggard said, "There is a lion in the way! A lion is in the streets!" ¹⁴ The door turns on its hinges, and the sluggard on his bed. ¹⁵ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too weary to bring it back to his mouth. ¹⁶ The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer discreetly. ¹⁷ He who grasps a dog's ears is a passerby who becomes involved in another's dispute. ¹⁸ Like one who shoots flaming arrows, the one shooting armed arrows and Death. ¹⁹ So a man who deceives his companion and says, "Am I not playing?" ²⁰ In the absence of wood the fire goes out, and in the absence of a slanderer strife is silenced. ²¹ Charcoal to coals and wood to fire, so a man of strifes to kindling strife. ²² The words of a whisperer are like delicacies, but they go down into the chambers of the belly. ²³ Silver dross overlaid on earthenware—a burning lip and a heart of evil. ²⁴ An enemy will deny with his lips, but he will set deceit in his midst. ²⁵ for he shows favor with his voice; do not believe him, for seven abominations are in his heart. ²⁶ She who covers hatred with wrath reveals his evil in the assembly. ²⁷ He who digs a pit will fall in it, and he who rolls a stone, it will return to him. ²⁸ A lying tongue hates its crushed one, and a smooth mouth makes a driving away.