Proverbs 26:16-23

¹⁶The lazy person is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who respond with good judgment.

¹⁷Like one who takes hold of the ears of a dog, is a passerby who becomes angry at a dispute that is not his own.

¹⁸Like a madman who shoots burning arrows,

¹⁹is the one who deceives his neighbor and says, “Was I not telling a joke?”

²⁰For lack of wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no gossiper quarreling ceases.

²¹As charcoal is to burning coals and wood is to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.

²²The words of a gossip are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

²³Like the glaze overlaying an earthen vessel so are burning lips and an evil heart.