Proverbs 26
What to make of a fool, the tutorial
Swift kick for a fool
1It’s not right:Snow in the summer,
Rain at harvest,
Honor for a fool.
2Like tiny birds flittering and big birds flying,
Not one agreeing to light,
Undeserved attempts to diss you won’t stick the landing. [1]
3A horse needs a whip and a donkey needs a bridle,
But a jackass [2] needs a kick in the butt.
4Don’t answer a fool’s question about something foolish
Unless you want to join that club.
5Answer a fool’s foolish question as it deserves.
Show that the fool is foolish.
6If you ask a fool to deliver a message,
Why don’t you cut off your feet and drink poison, too?
7Dead legs to the paralyzed
Are proverbs to a fool.
8A person who ties a stone into a slingshot
Is a person who would honor a fool.
Don’t waste wisdom on a fool
9Proverbs in the mouth of a foolAre like a thorn stuck in the hand of a drunk.
10An archer who can’t hit anything but what he’s supposed to miss
Is like a person who hires a fool or any other who-knows-what passing by.
11A dog returns to its vomit
Like a fool gets a do-over wrong again.
12Fools have more hope
Than folks who say they’re smart, but aren’t.
Tough love for the lazy
13A lazy person makes wild excuses for not working.“There’s a lion on the loose.
Someone saw it downtown.”
14A door turns on its hinges
Like a lazy person turns over in bed.
15Some people are too lazy to lift a hand to feed themselves.
It’s too much trouble shoveling food into their mouths.
16Lazy people say they’re smarter
Than seven others who make perfect sense when they open their mouths.
Wisdom from the ear of a stray dog
17Getting mixed up in someone else’s argumentIs dumber than yanking on a stray dog’s ears.
18A crazy person shoots deadly flaming arrows.
19Just as crazy are crooks who cheat someone and say, “Hey, I was just joking.”
Gossip feeds a fire
20If you run out of wood, the fire dies.If you stop the gossip, the argument dies.
21As charcoal and wood feed the fire,
An angry person feeds a fight.
22Gossip tastes delicious.
We absorb it all, until it becomes part of us. [3]
Shiny words of dirt
23Passionate words of a bad human beingAre like a shiny silver glaze over a dirt pot.
24Some people who hate you hide their feelings behind their words.
But it’s a sham, and a secret they’re keeping.
25When people like that talk kindly, don’t believe it.
Behind those words are heads full of disgusting thoughts.
26These people hide hatred.
But it won’t last. The public will discover what these haters really are.
Setting traps for yourself
27If you dig a pit to trap someone, you’ll end up down there.If you roll a boulder, it’ll come rolling back on you.
28Liars hate the targets they attack.
Fake flattery can ruin the target’s life.
Footnotes
126:2
For those not into gymnastics, “stick the landing” describes a gymnast landing solidly and flawlessly on his or her feet at the end of a routine or an exercise.
226:3
The Hebrew word is more literally translated, “fool.” But “jackass” perhaps does a better job conveying the passion of the proverb.
326:22
This proverb is repeated in 18:8.
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