Amplified Bible

Proverbs 26:1-11 Amplified Bible (AMP)

1. LIKE SNOW in summer and like rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a [self-confident] fool. [Isa. 32:6.]

2. Like the sparrow in her wandering, like the swallow in her flying, so the causeless curse does not alight. [Num. 23:8.]

3. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a [straight, slender] rod for the backs of [self-confident] fools.

4. Answer not a [self-confident] fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.

5. Answer a [self-confident] fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes and conceit. [Matt. 16:1-4; 21:24-27.]

6. He who sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off the feet [of satisfactory delivery] and drinks the damage. [Prov. 13:17.]

7. Like the legs of a lame man which hang loose, so is a parable in the mouth of a fool.

8. Like he who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a [self-confident] fool.

9. Like a thorn that goes [without being felt] into the hand of a drunken man, so is a proverb in the mouth of a [self-confident] fool.

10. [But] like an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool or chance passers-by.

11. As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.