Proverbs 26
Proverbs 26:1-28 (NLT)
1 Honor is no more associated with fools than snow with summer or rain with harvest.
2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim.
3 Guide a horse with a whip, a donkey with a bridle, and a fool with a rod to his back!
4 Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.
5 Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation.
6 Trusting a fool to convey a message is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison!
7 A proverb in the mouth of a fool is as useless as a paralyzed leg.
8 Honoring a fool is as foolish as tying a stone to a slingshot.
9 A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like a thorny branch brandished by a drunk.
10 An employer who hires a fool or a bystander is like an archer who shoots at random.
11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.
12 There is more hope for fools than for people who think they are wise.
13 The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion on the road! Yes, I’m sure there’s a lion out there!”
14 As a door swings back and forth on its hinges, so the lazy person turns over in bed.
15 Lazy people take food in their hand but don’t even lift it to their mouth.
16 Lazy people consider themselves smarter than seven wise counselors.
17 Interfering in someone else’s argument is as foolish as yanking a dog’s ears.
18 Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon
19 is someone who lies to a friend and then says, “I was only joking.”
20 Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.
21 A quarrelsome person starts fights as easily as hot embers light charcoal or fire lights wood.
22 Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart.
23 Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot.
24 People may cover their hatred with pleasant words, but they’re deceiving you.
25 They pretend to be kind, but don’t believe them. Their hearts are full of many evils.
26 While their hatred may be concealed by trickery, their wrongdoing will be exposed in public.
27 If you set a trap for others, you will get caught in it yourself. If you roll a boulder down on others, it will crush you instead.
28 A lying tongue hates its victims, and flattering words cause ruin.
The identities and characters of fools, lazy people, and liars are not congruent with success, favor, and blessing. It’s much better to do without someone known to be such than have to put up with the reality of who they are. Since being one of these has no redeeming virtue, the only resolution for the inevitable consequences once identified has nothing to do with coddling and acceptance. The only hope is for there to be a change of being, for that nature to be transformed into one of the wise, diligent, and honest. This identity change is very powerful in the one who has received new life in Christ. That old nature that is the only option for the old man is given up for a new one that is full of virtue and praise- in the very image and likeness of Christ. The identity transformation that began with the new birth has an ongoing and impacting affect in every moment given to the Spirit’s filling and the Scripture’s instruction at the feet of the Master. There is great hope and assurance for those who make this their quest as the fruit of His presence is an inevitable inverse of everything that old nature is not. Instead of attempting to be something by a determined will, there is a very natural and sure result from simply getting caught up in the flood of His life.