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26:1  Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honour is not fitting for a fool.
26:2  Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, an undeserved curse goes nowhere.
26:3  A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.
26:4  Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself.
26:5  Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes.
26:6  It is like cutting off one’s foot and drinking down violence, to send a message by a fool.
26:7  The legs of a disabled person hang limp; so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
26:8  It is like binding a stone in a sling to give honour to a fool.
26:9  Like a thornbush brandished by the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
26:10  Like an archer who wounds everybody is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.
26:11  Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who reverts to his folly.
26:12  Do you see persons wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for fools than for them.
26:13  The lazy person says, ‘There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!’
26:14  As a door turns on its hinges, so does a lazy person in bed.
26:15  The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and is too tired to bring it back to the mouth.
26:16  The lazy person is wiser in self-esteem than seven who can answer discreetly.
26:17  Like somebody who takes a passing dog by the ears is one who meddles in the quarrel of another.
26:18  Like a maniac who shoots deadly firebrands and arrows,
26:19  so is one who deceives a neighbour and says, ‘I am only joking!’
26:20  For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarrelling ceases.
26:21  As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
26:22  The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.
26:23  Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel are smooth lips with an evil heart.
26:24  An enemy dissembles in speaking while harbouring deceit within;
26:25  when an enemy speaks graciously, do not believe it, for there are seven abominations concealed within;
26:26  though hatred is covered with guile, the enemy’s wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
26:27  Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on the one who starts it rolling.
26:28  A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.