Catholic Public Domain Version

Proverbs 26:3-11 Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

3. A whip is for a horse, and a muzzle is for donkey, and a rod is for the back of the imprudent.

4. Do not respond to the foolish according to his folly, lest you become like him.

5. Respond to the foolish according to his folly, lest he imagine himself to be wise.

6. Whoever sends words by a foolish messenger has lame feet and drinks iniquity.

7. In the manner of a lame man who has beautiful legs to no purpose, so also is a parable unfit for the mouth of the foolish.

8. Just like one who casts a stone into the pile of Mercury, so also is he who gives honor to the foolish.

9. In the manner of a thorn, if it were to spring up from the hand of a drunkard, so also is a parable in the mouth of the foolish.

10. Judgment determines cases. And whoever imposes silence on the foolish mitigates anger.

11. Like a dog that returns to his vomit, so also is the imprudent who repeats his foolishness.