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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”

Excess speech is not becoming to a fool;
    still less is false speech to a ruler.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 17.7 Or a noble

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

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10 A rebuke strikes deeper into a discerning person
    than a hundred blows into 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 to meet a she-bear robbed of its cubs
    than to confront a fool immersed in 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 should fools have a price in hand
    to buy wisdom when they have no mind to learn?

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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 The discerning person looks to wisdom,
    but the eyes of a fool to the ends of the earth.(A)
25 Foolish children are a grief to their father
    and bitterness to her who bore them.(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 fools who keep silent are considered wise;
    when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent.(A)

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