(A)Answer not a fool according to his folly,
    lest you be like him yourself.
(B)Answer a fool according to his folly,
    lest he be (C)wise in his own eyes.

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Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness,
    or you will be just like him.
Answer a fool according to his foolishness,
    or he will think himself to be wise.

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17 Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own
    is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.

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17 Picking up a dog by the ears—
    that’s what someone is like who[a] meddles in another’s fight.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 26:17 Lit. who, as he is passing by,

20 For lack of wood the fire goes out,
    and where there is no (A)whisperer, (B)quarreling ceases.
21 As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
    so is (C)a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

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On Gossip and Backbiting

20 Without wood, the fire goes out.
    Without a gossip, contention stops.
21 Charcoal is to hot coals
    as wood is to fire;
        so also a quarrelsome man fuels strife.

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22 (A)A man of wrath stirs up strife,
    and one given to anger causes much transgression.

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22 An angry man stirs up arguments,
    and a hot-tempered man causes many transgressions.

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33 For pressing milk produces curds,
    pressing the nose produces blood,
    and pressing anger produces strife.

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33 Just as whipping milk produces butter,
    and twisting the nose causes bleeding,
        so also stirring up anger produces contention.

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