Proverbs 26
26
Fools Recycle Silliness
1We no more give honors to fools
than pray for snow in summer or rain during harvest.
2You have as little to fear from an undeserved curse
as from the dart of a wren or the swoop of a swallow.
3A whip for the racehorse, a tiller for the sailboat—
and a stick for the back of fools!
4Don’t respond to the stupidity of a fool;
you’ll only look foolish yourself.
5Answer a fool in simple terms
so he doesn’t get a swelled head.
6You’re only asking for trouble
when you send a message by a fool.
7A proverb quoted by fools
is limp as a wet noodle.
8Putting a fool in a place of honor
is like setting a mud brick on a marble column.
9To ask a moron to quote a proverb
is like putting a scalpel in the hands of a drunk.
10Hire a fool or a drunk
and you shoot yourself in the foot.
11As a dog eats its own vomit,
so fools recycle silliness.
12See that man who thinks he’s so smart?
You can expect far more from a fool than from him.
13Loafers say, “It’s dangerous out there!
Tigers are prowling the streets!”
and then pull the covers back over their heads.
14Just as a door turns on its hinges,
so a lazybones turns back over in bed.
15A shiftless sluggard puts his fork in the pie,
but is too lazy to lift it to his mouth.
Like Glaze on Cracked Pottery
16Dreamers fantasize their self-importance;
they think they are smarter
than a whole college faculty.
17You grab a mad dog by the ears
when you butt into a quarrel that’s none of your business.
18-19People who shrug off deliberate deceptions,
saying, “I didn’t mean it, I was only joking,”
Are worse than careless campers
who walk away from smoldering campfires.
20When you run out of wood, the fire goes out;
when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.
21A quarrelsome person in a dispute
is like kerosene thrown on a fire.
22Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy;
do you want junk like that in your belly?
23Smooth talk from an evil heart
is like glaze on cracked pottery.
24-26Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend,
all the while plotting against you.
When he speaks warmly to you, don’t believe him for a minute;
he’s just waiting for the chance to rip you off.
No matter how shrewdly he conceals his malice,
eventually his evil will be exposed in public.
27Malice backfires;
spite boomerangs.
28Liars hate their victims;
flatterers sabotage trust.
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Proverbs 26: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Proverbs 26
26
1Like snow in summer and rain at harvest,#1Sm 12:17
honor is inappropriate for a fool.#Pr 17:7; 19:10
2Like a flitting sparrow or a fluttering swallow,#Pr 27:8
an undeserved curse goes nowhere.#Nm 23:8; Dt 23:5; 2Sm 16:12
3A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,#Ps 32:9
and a rod for the backs of fools.#Pr 10:13; 19:29
4Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness#Pr 23:9; 29:9; Mt 7:6; Lk 23:9
or you’ll be like him yourself.
5Answer a fool according to his foolishness#Mt 16:1–4; 21:24–27
or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.#Pr 26:12; 28:11; Rm 12:16
6The one who sends a message by a fool’s hand#Pr 10:26; 25:13
cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.#Pr 13:2
7A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like lame legs that hang limp.
8Giving honor to a fool
is like binding a stone in a sling.
9A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like a stick with thorns,
brandished by#26:9 Lit thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard.
10The one who hires a fool or who hires those passing by
is like an archer who wounds everyone indiscriminately.
11As a dog returns to its vomit,
so also a fool repeats his foolishness.#2Pt 2:22
12Do you see a person who is wise in his own eyes?#Pr 3:7; 26:5; Rm 12:16
There is more hope for a fool than for him.#Pr 29:20
13The slacker says, “There’s a lion in the road —
a lion in the public square!” #Pr 22:13
14A door turns on its hinges,
and a slacker, on his bed.#Pr 6:9–10; 19:15
15The slacker buries his hand in the bowl;
he is too weary to bring it to his mouth!#Pr 12:27; 19:24
16In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser#Pr 26:5,12; 28:11
than seven who can answer sensibly.
17A person who is passing by and meddles in a quarrel that’s not his
is like one who grabs a dog by the ears.
18Like a madman who throws flaming darts and deadly arrows,#Is 50:11
19so is the person who deceives his neighbor
and says, “I was only joking!”
20Without wood, fire goes out;
without a gossip, conflict dies down.#Pr 16:28; 22:10
21As charcoal for embers and wood for fire,
so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.#Pr 15:18
22A gossip’s words are like choice food
that goes down to one’s innermost being.#26:22 Lit to the chambers of the belly#Pr 18:8
23Smooth#26:23 LXX; MT reads Burning lips with an evil heart
are like glaze on an earthen vessel.#Mt 23:27; Lk 11:39
24A hateful person disguises himself with his speech
and harbors deceit within.
25When he speaks graciously, don’t believe him,
for there are seven detestable things in his heart.#Ps 28:3
26Though his hatred is concealed by deception,
his evil will be revealed in the assembly.
27The one who digs a pit will fall into it,
and whoever rolls a stone —
it will come back on him.#Est 7:10; Jb 4:8; Pr 28:10; Dn 6:24; Mt 26:52
28A lying tongue hates those it crushes,
and a flattering mouth causes ruin.
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