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12 It is ·better [safer] to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
than to meet a fool doing foolish things.

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12 Let a (A)person meet a (B)bear robbed of her cubs,
Rather than a fool in his foolishness.

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Don’t speak in the ears of fools [Matt. 7:6];
they will only ·ignore [despise] your ·wise [insightful] words.

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(A)Do not speak [a]to be heard by a fool,
For he will (B)despise the wisdom of your words.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:9 Lit in the ears of a

Don’t answer fools when they speak foolishly,
or you will be just like them.

Answer fools when they speak foolishly,
or they will ·think they are really wise [L be wise in their own eyes; C a wise person must read the situation to know whether to answer or not].

Sending a message by a foolish person
is like cutting off your feet or drinking ·poison [L violence].

A ·wise saying spoken by [L proverb in the mouth of] a fool
·is as useless as [L dangles like] the legs of a crippled person.

Giving honor to a foolish person
is like ·tying a stone [L a bag of stones] in a slingshot.

A ·wise saying spoken by [L proverb in the mouth of] a fool
is like a ·thorn stuck in the hand of a drunk [L thornbush in the hand of a fool].

10 Hiring a foolish person or anyone just passing by
is like an archer shooting ·at just anything [randomly].

11 A fool who repeats his ·foolishness [foolish mistakes]
is like a dog that goes back to ·what it has thrown up [its vomit; 2 Pet. 2:22].

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(A)Do not answer a fool [a]according to his foolishness,
Or you will also be like him.
(B)Answer a fool as his foolishness deserves,
So that he will not be (C)wise in his own eyes.
One who sends a message by the hand of a fool
Chops off his own feet and drinks violence.
Like [b]useless legs to one who cannot walk,
So is a proverb in the mouths of fools.
Like [c]one who binds a stone in a sling,
So is one who gives honor to a fool.
Like a thorn that [d]sticks in the hand of a heavy drinker,
So is a proverb in the mouths of fools.
10 [e]Like an archer who wounds everyone,
So is one who hires a fool or hires those who pass by.
11 Like (D)a dog that returns to its vomit,
So is a fool who (E)repeats [f]his foolishness.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 26:4 I.e., taking his question or argument seriously
  2. Proverbs 26:7 Lit legs that dangle from one paralyzed
  3. Proverbs 26:8 Lit the binding of
  4. Proverbs 26:9 Lit goes up
  5. Proverbs 26:10 Or A master workman produces all things, But one who hires a fool is like one who hires those who pass by
  6. Proverbs 26:11 Lit with his

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

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22 Though you (A)pound the fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain,
His foolishness still will not leave him.

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When a wise person ·takes a foolish person to court [or debates/disputes a fool],
the fool only shouts or laughs, and there is no ·peace [rest].

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When a wise person has a controversy with a foolish person,
[a]The foolish person either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 29:9 Lit He