✧Like snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool. ✧2Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn’t come to rest. ✧3A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools! ✧4Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. ✧5Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. ✧6One who sends a message by the hand of a fool is cutting off feet and drinking violence. ✧7Like the legs of the lame that hang loose, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. ✧8As one who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool. ✧9Like a thorn bush that goes into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. ✧10As an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool or he who hires those who pass by. ✧11As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly. ✧12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. ✧13The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion roams the streets!” ✧14As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed. ✧15The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. ✧16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer with discretion. ✧17Like one who grabs a dog’s ears is one who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own. ✧18Like a madman who shoots torches, arrows, and death, ✧19is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Am I not joking?” ✧20For lack of wood a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down. ✧21As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindling strife. ✧22The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, they go down into the innermost parts. ✧23Like silver dross on an earthen vessel are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart. ✧24A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart. ✧25When his speech is charming, don’t believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. ✧26His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. ✧27Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it. Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him. ✧28A lying tongue hates those it hurts; and a flattering mouth works ruin.