משלי כוProverbs 26
Like snow in summer and rain at harvesttime,So honor is not fitting for a dullard.
As a sparrow must flit and a swallow fly,So a gratuitous curse must backfire., “fail.”
A whip for a horse and a bridle for a donkey,And a rod for the back of dullards.
Do not answer a dullard in accord with his folly,Else you will become like him.
Answer a dullard in accord with his folly,Else he will think himself wise.
One who sends a message by a dullardWill wear out legs and must put up with lawlessness.
As legs hang limp on a cripple,So is a proverb in the mouth of dullards.
Like a pebble in a sling,So is paying honor to a dullard.
As a thorn comes to the hand of a drunkard,So a proverb to the mouth of a dullard.
A master can produce anything, But anyone who hires a dullard is as one who hires transients.
As a dog returns to its vomit,So a dullard repeats his folly.
If you see a man who thinks himself wise,There is more hope for a dullard than for him.
The sluggard says,“There’s a cub on the road, a lion in the squares.”
The door turns upon the hinge,And the sluggard upon the bed.
The sluggard buries a hand in the bowl,And will not even bring it to the mouth.
In self-regard, the sluggard is wiserThan seven who give good advice.
A passerby who gets embroiled in someone else’s quarrelIs like one who seizes a dog by its ears.
Like a lunatic scattering deadly firebrands, arrows,
Is the man who cheats his fellow and says, “I was only joking.”
For lack of wood a fire goes out,And without a grumbler contention is stilled.
Charcoal for embers and wood for a fireAnd a contentious man for kindling strife.
The words of a grumbler are bruising; They penetrate one’s inmost parts.
Base silver laid over earthenwareAre ardent lips with an evil mind.
An enemy dissembles with his speech,Inwardly he harbors deceit.
Though he be fair-spoken do not trust him,For seven abominations are in his mind.
His hatred may be concealed by dissimulation,But his evil will be exposed to public view.
One who digs a pit will fall in it,And a stone will roll back upon the one who is rolling it.
A lying tongue hates those crushed by it; Smooth speech throws one down.