Proverbs 25:15-28

Revised Standard Version

¹⁵ With patience a ruler may be persuaded,
    and a soft tongue will break a bone.
¹⁶ If you have found honey, eat only enough for you,
    lest you be sated with it and vomit it.
¹⁷ Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,
    lest he become weary of you and hate you.
¹⁸ A man who bears false witness against his neighbor
    is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.
¹⁹ Trust in a faithless man in time of trouble
    is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.
²⁰ He who sings songs to a heavy heart
    is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,
    and like vinegar on a wound.^[a]
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
    and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
²² for you will heap coals of fire on his head,
    and the Lord will reward you.
²³ The north wind brings forth rain;
    and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.
²⁴ It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
    than in a house shared with a contentious woman.
²⁵ Like cold water to a thirsty soul,
    so is good news from a far country.
²⁶ Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain
    is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
²⁷ It is not good to eat much honey,
    so be sparing of complimentary words.^[b]
28 A man without self-control
    is like a city broken into and left without walls.