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Proverbs 26 (TNIV)

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¹ Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool. ² Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. ³ A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools! ⁴ Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you yourself will be just like them. ⁵ Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes. ⁶ To send a message by the hands of a fool is like cutting off one's feet or drinking poison. ⁷ Like the useless legs of one who is lame is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. ⁸ Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool. ⁹ Like a thornbush in a drunkard's hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. ¹⁰ Like an archer who wounds at random is one who hires a fool or any passer-by. ¹¹ As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly. ¹² Do you see people who are wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for fools than for them. ¹³ A sluggard says, "There's a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!" ¹⁴ As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on the bed. ¹⁵ Sluggards bury their hands in the dish and are too lazy to bring them back to their mouths. ¹⁶ Sluggards are wiser in their own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly. ¹⁷ Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own. ¹⁸ Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death ¹⁹ is one who deceives a neighbor and says, "I was only joking!" ²⁰ Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. ²¹ As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife. ²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts. ²³ Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. ²⁴ Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. ²⁵ Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts. ²⁶ Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. ²⁷ If anyone digs a pit, they themselves will fall into it; if anyone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them. ²⁸ A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.