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Fine speech[a] is not becoming a fool,
    still less[b] is false speech[c] for a ruler.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:7 Literally “A lip of fineness
  2. Proverbs 17:7 Literally “only for”
  3. Proverbs 17:7 Literally “lip of deceit”

Eloquent words are not appropriate on a fool’s lips;
how much worse are lies for a ruler.

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Eloquent lips are unsuited to a godless fool—
    how much worse lying lips to a ruler!(A)

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10 A rebuke strikes him who understands
    deeper than one hundred blows to a fool.

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10 A rebuke cuts into a perceptive person
more than a hundred lashes into a fool.

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10 A rebuke impresses a discerning person
    more than a hundred lashes a fool.

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12 May a man meet a she-bear robbed of offspring
    and not a fool in his folly.

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

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12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
    than a fool bent on folly.(A)

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16 Why is this? A price in the hand of a fool,
    in order to buy wisdom where[a] there is no sense.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:16 Hebrew “and”
  2. Proverbs 17:16 Literally “heart”

16 Why does a fool have money in his hand
with no intention of buying wisdom?(A)

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16 Why should fools have money in hand to buy wisdom,
    when they are not able to understand it?(A)

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24 He who understands sets his face toward wisdom,
    but the eyes of a fool, to the end of the earth.[a]
25 A grief to his father is the child of a fool,
    and bitterness to her who bore him.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:24 Or “land”

24 Wisdom is the focus of the perceptive,
but a fool’s eyes(A) roam to the ends of the earth.

25 A foolish son is grief to his father
and bitterness to the one who bore him.(B)

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24 A discerning person keeps wisdom in view,
    but a fool’s eyes(A) wander to the ends of the earth.

25 A foolish son brings grief to his father
    and bitterness to the mother who bore him.(B)

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28 Even a fool who keeps silent shall be considered wise;[a]
    he who closes his lips is intelligent.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:28 Literally “wise, he shall be considered”

28 Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps silent—
discerning, when he seals his lips.(A)

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28 Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
    and discerning if they hold their tongues.(A)

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