Dual Panel1Like snow in summer or rain at harvest, honour is unseasonable when paid to a fool.
2Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, groundless abuse gets nowhere.
3The whip for a horse, the bridle for a donkey, the rod for the back of a fool!
4Do not answer a fool as his folly deserves, or you will grow like him yourself;
5answer a fool as his folly deserves, or he will think himself wise.
6Whoever sends a fool on an errand cuts his own leg off and displays the stump.
7A proverb in the mouth of fools dangles helpless as the legs of the lame.
8Like one who ties the stone into his sling is he who bestows honour on a fool.
9Like a thorn-stick brandished by a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
10Like an archer who shoots at any passer-by is one who hires a fool or a drunkard.
11A fool who repeats his folly is like a dog returning to its vomit.
12Do you see that man who thinks himself so wise? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
13The sluggard protests, “There is a lion in the road, a lion at large on the street.”
14A door turns on its hinges, a sluggard on his bed.
15A sluggard dips his hand into the dish but is too lazy to lift it to his mouth.
16A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven who answer sensibly.
17Like someone who seizes a stray cur by the ears is he who meddles in a quarrel not his own.
18Like a madman shooting at random his deadly darts and lethal arrows,
19so is the man who deceives another and then says, “It was only a joke.”
20For lack of wood a fire dies down and for want of a tale-bearer a quarrel subsides.
21Like coal for glowing embers and wood for the fire is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
22A gossip's whispers are tasty morsels swallowed right down.
23Like glaze spread on earthenware is glib speech that covers a spiteful heart.
24With his lips an enemy may speak you fair but in his heart he harbours deceit;
25when his speech is fair, do not trust him, for seven abominations fill his mind;
26he may cloak his enmity in dissimulation, but his wickedness will be exposed before the assembly.
27Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; if he rolls a stone, it will roll back upon him.
28A lying tongue is the enemy of the innocent, and smooth words bring about their downfall.