Similitudes and Instructions

¹ Like snow in summer and rain at harvest,

honor does not befit a fool.

² Like a fluttering^* sparrow or darting swallow,

an undeserved curse does not come to rest.

³ A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,

and a rod for the backs of fools!

⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly,

or you yourself will be like him.

⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly,

lest he become wise in his own eyes.

⁶ Like cutting off one’s own feet or drinking violence

is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.

⁷ Like lame legs hanging limp

is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

⁸ Like binding a stone into a sling

is the giving of honor to a fool.

⁹ Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard

is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

¹⁰ Like an archer who wounds^* at random

is he who hires^* a fool or^* passerby.

¹¹ As a dog returns to its vomit,

so a fool repeats his folly.

¹² Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³ The slacker says, “A lion is in the road!

A fierce lion roams the public square!”

¹⁴ As a door turns on its hinges,

so the slacker turns on his bed.

¹⁵ The slacker buries his hand in the dish;

it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.

¹⁶ The slacker is wiser in his own eyes

than seven men who answer discreetly.

¹⁷ Like one who grabs a dog by the ears

is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own.

¹⁸ Like a madman shooting firebrands

and deadly arrows,

¹⁹ so is the man who deceives his neighbor

and says, “I was only joking!”^*

²⁰ Without wood, a fire goes out;

without gossip, a conflict ceases.

²¹ Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire,

so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels

that go down into the inmost being.

²³ Like glaze covering^* an earthen vessel^*

are burning lips and a wicked heart.

²⁴ A hateful man disguises himself with his speech,

but he lays up deceit in his heart.

²⁵ When he speaks graciously,^* do not believe him,

for seven abominations fill his heart.

²⁶ Though his hatred is concealed by deception,

his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

²⁷ He who digs a pit will fall into it,

and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

²⁸ A lying tongue hates those it crushes,

and a flattering mouth causes ruin.