12 Better for a man to meet a bear robbed of her cubs(A)
than a fool in his foolishness.

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Don’t speak to[a] a fool,
for he will despise the insight of your words.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:9 Lit in the ears of

Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness(A)
or you’ll be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his foolishness(B)
or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.(C)
The one who sends a message by a fool’s hand(D)
cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.(E)
A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like lame legs that hang limp.
Giving honor to a fool
is like binding a stone in a sling.[a]
A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like a stick with thorns,
brandished by[b] the hand of a drunkard.
10 The one who hires a fool or who hires those passing by
is like an archer who wounds everyone.
11 As a dog returns to its vomit,
so a fool repeats his foolishness.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 26:8 A stone bound in a sling would not release and could harm the person using the sling. A modern equivalent is jamming a cork in a gun barrel.
  2. Proverbs 26:9 Lit thorn that goes up into

22 Though you grind a fool
in a mortar with a pestle along with grain,
you will not separate his foolishness from him.(A)

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If a wise man goes to court with a fool,
there will be ranting and raving but no resolution.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 29:9 Lit rest

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