Proverbs 26:1-10

¹Like snow in summer and rain when the grain is being cut, so honour is not natural for the foolish.

²As the sparrow in her wandering and the swallow in her flight, so the curse does not come without a cause.

³A whip for the horse, a mouth-bit for the ass, and a rod for the back of the foolish.

⁴Do not give to the foolish man a foolish answer, or you will be like him.

⁵Give a foolish man a foolish answer, or he will seem wise to himself.

⁶He who sends news by the hand of a foolish man is cutting off his feet and drinking in damage.

⁷The legs of one who has no power of walking are hanging loose; so is a wise saying in the mouth of the foolish.

⁸Giving honour to a foolish man is like attempting to keep a stone fixed in a cord.

⁹Like a thorn which goes up into the hand of a man overcome by drink, so is a wise saying in the mouth of a foolish man.

¹⁰Like an archer wounding all who go by, is a foolish man overcome by drink.