Proverbs 17:12
Holman Christian Standard Bible
12 Better for a man to meet a bear robbed of her cubs(A)
than a fool in his foolishness.
Proverbs 17:12
Common English Bible
12 Safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
than fools in their folly.
Proverbs 23:9
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:9 Lit in the ears of
Proverbs 23:9
Common English Bible
9 Don’t speak in the ears of fools,
for they will scorn your insightful words.
Proverbs 26:4-11
Holman Christian Standard Bible
4 Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness(A)
or you’ll be like him yourself.
5 Answer a fool according to his foolishness(B)
or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.(C)
6 The one who sends a message by a fool’s hand(D)
cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.(E)
7 A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like lame legs that hang limp.
8 Giving honor to a fool
is like binding a stone in a sling.[a]
9 A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like a stick with thorns,
brandished by[b] the hand of a drunkard.
10 The one who hires a fool or who hires those passing by
is like an archer who wounds everyone.
11 As a dog returns to its vomit,
so a fool repeats his foolishness.(F)
Footnotes
- Proverbs 26:8 A stone bound in a sling would not release and could harm the person using the sling. A modern equivalent is jamming a cork in a gun barrel.
- Proverbs 26:9 Lit thorn that goes up into
Proverbs 26:4-11
Common English Bible
4 Don’t answer fools according to their folly,
or you will become like them yourself.
5 Answer fools according to their folly,
or they will deem themselves wise.
6 Sending messages with a fool
is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking down violence.
7 As legs dangle from a disabled person,
so does a proverb in the mouth of fools.
8 Like tying a stone in a sling,
so is giving respect to a fool.
9 Like a thorny bush in the hand of a drunk,
so is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
10 Like an archer who wounds someone randomly,
so is one who hires a fool or a passerby.
11 Like a dog that returns to its vomit,
so a fool repeats foolish mistakes.
Proverbs 27:22
Holman Christian Standard Bible
22 Though you grind a fool
in a mortar with a pestle along with grain,
you will not separate his foolishness from him.(A)
Proverbs 27:22
Common English Bible
22 Even if you grind fools in a mortar,
even grinding them along with the grain,
their folly won’t be driven from them.
Proverbs 29:9
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Footnotes
- Proverbs 29:9 Lit rest
Proverbs 29:9
Common English Bible
9 When the wise make a legal charge against the foolish,
the fools shout, they laugh—there is no calm.
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