Proverbs 26:19-28

The Message

^18-19 People 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.

²⁰ When you run out of wood, the fire goes out;
    when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.

²¹ A quarrelsome person in a dispute
    is like kerosene thrown on a fire.

²² Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy;
    do you want junk like that in your belly?

²³ Smooth talk from an evil heart
    is like glaze on cracked pottery.

^24-26 Your 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.

²⁷ Malice backfires;
    spite boomerangs.

²⁸ Liars hate their victims;
    flatterers sabotage trust.