Proverbs 26

Similitudes and Instructions

¹Like 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.

• PROV 26:2[DEMONIC]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.

• PROV 26:4[NOTE]ANSWER HIM OR NOT? 26:4 says do not answer a fool, and 26:5 says do. They sit side by side on purpose. Wisdom knows when to argue and when to walk away. Old rabbis even asked if Proverbs should be put away because of these verses. They decided one is about arguing over God's law and the other about everyday things, so both are true.

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 goes 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.

• PROV 26:11[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → 2PE 2:22
• PROV 26:11[NOTE]QUOTED BY PETER. 2 Peter 2:22 quotes the dog and adds a washed pig from another old saying. See The Ahiqar Papyrus in 2 Peter.

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,

• PROV 26:23[HEART]Smooth lips with an evil heart are like cheap glaze on clay.

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.