✧Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor does not befit a fool. ✧2Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. ✧3A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools! ✧4Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. ✧5Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes. ✧6Like cutting off one’s own feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool. ✧7Like lame legs hanging limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. ✧8Like binding a stone into a sling is the giving of honor to a fool. ✧9Like a thorn that falls into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. ✧10Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or passerby. ✧11As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. ✧12Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. ✧13The slacker says, “A lion is in the road! A fierce lion roams the public square!” ✧14As a door turns on its hinges, so the slacker turns on his bed. ✧15The slacker buries his hand in the dish; it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. ✧16The slacker is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly. ✧17Like one who grabs a dog by the ears is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own. ✧18Like a madman shooting firebrands and deadly arrows, ✧19so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!” ✧20Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases. ✧21Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. ✧22The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being. ✧23Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning lips and a wicked heart. ✧24A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart. ✧25When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. ✧26Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. ✧27He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. ✧28A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.