Proverbs 26  Living Bible

26 Honor doesn’t go with fools any more than snow with summertime or rain with harvesttime!

² An undeserved curse has no effect. Its intended victim will be no more harmed by it than by a sparrow or swallow flitting through the sky.

³ Guide a horse with a whip, a donkey with a bridle, and a rebel with a rod to his back!

^4-5 When arguing with a rebel, don’t use foolish arguments as he does, or you will become as foolish as he is! Prick his conceit with silly replies!^[a]

⁶ To trust a rebel to convey a message is as foolish as cutting off your feet and drinking poison!

⁷ In the mouth of a fool a proverb becomes as useless as a paralyzed leg.

⁸ Honoring a rebel will backfire like a stone tied to a slingshot!

⁹ A rebel will misapply an illustration so that its point will no more be felt than a thorn in the hand of a drunkard.

¹⁰ The master may get better work from an untrained apprentice than from a skilled rebel!

¹¹ As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

¹² There is one thing worse than a fool, and that is a man who is conceited.

¹³ The lazy man won’t go out and work. “There might be a lion outside!” he says. ¹⁴ He sticks to his bed like a door to its hinges! ¹⁵ He is too tired even to lift his food from his dish to his mouth! ¹⁶ Yet in his own opinion he is smarter than seven wise men.

¹⁷ Yanking a dog’s ears is no more foolish than interfering in an argument that isn’t any of your business.

^18-19 A man who is caught lying to his neighbor and says, “I was just fooling,” is like a madman throwing around firebrands, arrows, and death!

²⁰ Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and tensions disappear when gossip stops.

²¹ A quarrelsome man starts fights as easily as a match sets fire to paper.^[b]

²² Gossip is a dainty morsel eaten with great relish.

²³ Pretty words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a common clay pot.

^24-26 A man with hate in his heart may sound pleasant enough, but don’t believe him; for he is cursing you in his heart. Though he pretends to be so kind, his hatred will finally come to light for all to see.

²⁷ The man who sets a trap for others will get caught in it himself. Roll a boulder down on someone, and it will roll back and crush you.

²⁸ Flattery is a form of hatred and wounds cruelly.