26 It is not right to give honour to a fool.
    It is as silly as snow that falls in summer,
    or rain that falls at the time of harvest.
² If someone curses you for no reason, it will not stay with you.
    Their words will be like birds that never stop to rest.
³ There are right ways to punish a horse or a donkey.
    The right way to punish a fool is to beat him with a stick.
⁴ If someone asks you a silly question, do not give him a silly answer.
    Be careful that you do not become as silly as he is.
⁵ If someone asks you a silly question, give him a silly answer.
    Then he will know that he is not as wise as he thinks he is.^[a]
6 If you send a message with a fool, there will be trouble.
    It would be better to cut off your own feet!
⁷ A lame person cannot use his legs properly.
    A fool cannot use a proverb properly.
⁸ If you tie a stone into a sling, it will be a useless weapon.
    It is also useless to give honour to a fool.
⁹ A fool who speaks a proverb is like a drunk person with a thorn in his finger.
    He does not know what to do with it.
¹⁰ A soldier who shoots his arrows everywhere is useless.
    It is the same if you ask a stupid person to do work for you.
¹¹ A sick dog goes back to eat what it could not keep in its stomach.
    A fool goes back and makes the same mistakes again.
¹² Some men think that they are already wise.
    A fool is more likely to learn something than they are.
¹³ A lazy person does not go out of his house.
    He says, ‘There is a lion outside in the street!’
¹⁴ A lazy person turns over in his bed,
    like a door that continues to open and close.
¹⁵ A lazy person pushes his hand into his bowl of food.
    But then he is too tired to lift his hand up to his mouth.
¹⁶ A lazy person thinks that he is very wise.
    He thinks that he is wiser than seven people who can answer questions well.
¹⁷ When strangers are arguing, only a fool joins the argument.
    It would be better if he took hold of a wild dog's ears!
¹⁸ A crazy man may shoot sharp arrows to kill people.
¹⁹ If a person deceives his friend and then laughs about it,
    he is as bad as that crazy person.
²⁰ Without wood, a fire stops burning.
    When people do not tell their friends' secrets, quarrels stop.
²¹ But when a fire has wood, it continues to burn.
    When people love to quarrel, there will always be arguments.
²² We love to hear other people's secrets.
    They seem like good food that we can really enjoy.
²³ When a hypocrite says nice words,
    that is like a cheap pot with silver paint.
²⁴ A hypocrite can say nice things to hide his thoughts,
    but he is still thinking about ways to hurt people.
²⁵ Do not believe him when he speaks kind words.
    His mind is still full of evil things.
²⁶ He may not seem to hate people, but he is telling lies.
    In a public meeting, everyone will recognize his sins.
²⁷ If a man digs a deep hole as a trap, he will fall into it himself.
    If a man pushes a stone to fall on someone, it will fall back on him.
²⁸ If you tell lies, it shows that you hate other people.
    If you deceive people with sweet words, you will destroy them.