26 Like snow in summer or ^(A)rain in harvest,
    so ^(B)honor is ^(C)not fitting for a fool.
² Like ^(D)a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,
    ^(E)a curse that is causeless does not alight.
^3 (F)A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
    and ^(G)a rod for the back of fools.
^4 (H)Answer not a fool according to his folly,
    lest you be like him yourself.
^5 (I)Answer a fool according to his folly,
    lest he be ^(J)wise in his own eyes.
⁶ Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool
    cuts off his own feet and ^(K)drinks violence.
⁷ Like a lame man's legs, which hang useless,
    is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
⁸ Like one who binds the stone in the sling
    is ^(L)one who gives honor to a fool.
⁹ Like ^(M)a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard
    is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
¹⁰ Like an archer who wounds everyone
    is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.^[a]
11 Like ^(N)a dog that returns to his vomit
    is ^(O)a fool who repeats his folly.
¹² Do you see a man who is ^(P)wise in his own eyes?
    ^(Q)There is more hope for a fool than for him.
^13 (R)The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
    There is a lion in the streets!”
¹⁴ As a door turns on its hinges,
    so does a sluggard on his bed.
^15 (S)The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
    it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.
¹⁶ The sluggard is ^(T)wiser in his own eyes
    ^(U)than seven men who can answer sensibly.
¹⁷ Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own
    is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.
¹⁸ Like a madman who throws ^(V)firebrands, arrows, and death
¹⁹ is the man who deceives his neighbor
    and says, “I am only joking!”
²⁰ For lack of wood the fire goes out,
    and where there is no ^(W)whisperer, ^(X)quarreling ceases.
²¹ As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
    so is ^(Y)a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
^22 (Z)The words of ^(AA)a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
    they go down into the inner parts of the body.
^23 (AB)Like the ^(AC)glaze^[b] covering an earthen vessel
    are fervent lips with an evil heart.
²⁴ Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips
    and harbors deceit in his heart;
^25 (AD)when he speaks graciously, believe him not,
    for there are ^(AE)seven abominations in his heart;
²⁶ though his hatred be covered with deception,
    his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
^27 (AF)Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,
    and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.
²⁸ A lying tongue hates its victims,
    and a flattering mouth works ruin.

58 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
    ^(A)lift up your voice like a trumpet;
^(B)declare to my people their transgression,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
^2 (C)Yet they seek me daily
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
    and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they delight to draw near to God.
^3 (D)‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
    Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,^{[a]
    (E)}and oppress all your workers.
⁴ Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
    will not make your voice to be heard on high.
^5 (F)Is such the fast that I choose,
    ^(G)a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
    and a day acceptable to the Lord?

59 Behold, ^(AA)the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
    or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
^2 (AB)but your iniquities have made a separation
    between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
    so that he does not hear.
^3 (AC)For your hands are defiled with blood
    and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
    your tongue mutters wickedness.
^4 (AD)No one enters suit justly;
    no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
    ^(AE)they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
⁵ They hatch adders' eggs;
    they weave the spider's web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
    and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
^6 (AF)Their webs will not serve as clothing;
    men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
    and deeds of violence are in their hands.
^7 (AG)Their feet run to evil,
    and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
    desolation and destruction are in their highways.
⁸ The way of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
    ^(AH)no one who treads on them knows peace.

^14 (AO)Justice is turned back,
    and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
    and uprightness cannot enter.
¹⁵ Truth is lacking,
    and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.