¹² It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
    than to meet a foolish person doing foolish things.

⁹ Don’t speak to a foolish person.
    He will only ignore your wise words.

⁴ Don’t give a foolish person a foolish answer.
    If you do, you will be just like him.

⁵ But answer a foolish person as he should be answered.
    If you don’t, he will think he is really wise.

⁶ Don’t send a message by a foolish person.
    That would be like cutting off your feet or drinking poison.

⁷ A wise saying spoken by a fool does no good.
    It is like the legs of a crippled person.

⁸ Giving honor to a foolish person does no good.
    It is like tying a stone in a slingshot.

⁹ A wise saying spoken by a fool
    is like a thorn stuck in the hand of a drunk.

¹⁰ Someone might employ a foolish person or anyone just passing by.
    That employer is like an archer who shoots at anything he sees.

¹¹ A dog eats what it throws up.
    And a foolish person repeats his foolishness.

²² Even if you ground up a foolish person like grain in a bowl,
    you couldn’t remove his foolishness.

⁹ A wise man should not take a foolish person to court.
    The fool will only shout or laugh at him. There will be no peace.