Proverbs 26:12-28

Revised Standard Version

¹² Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
    There is more hope for a fool than for him.
¹³ The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
    There is a lion in the streets!”
¹⁴ As a door turns on its hinges,
    so does a sluggard on his bed.
¹⁵ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
    it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.
¹⁶ The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
    than seven men who can answer discreetly.
¹⁷ He who meddles in a quarrel not his own
    is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.
¹⁸ Like a madman who throws firebrands,
    arrows, and death,
¹⁹ is the man who deceives his neighbor
    and says, “I am only joking!”
²⁰ For lack of wood the fire goes out;
    and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.
²¹ As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
    so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
²² The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
    they go down into the inner parts of the body.
²³ Like the glaze^[a] covering an earthen vessel
    are smooth^[b] lips with an evil heart.
²⁴ He who hates, dissembles with his lips
    and harbors deceit in his heart;
²⁵ when he speaks graciously, believe him not,
    for there are seven abominations in his heart;
²⁶ though his hatred be covered with guile,
    his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
²⁷ He who digs a pit will fall into it,
    and a stone will come back upon him who starts it rolling.
²⁸ A lying tongue hates its victims,
    and a flattering mouth works ruin.