Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor is inappropriate for a fool.
Proverbs 26:1 (CSB)
1. The Rebel Fool Resists Following Authority
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools.
Proverbs 26:3 (CSB)
Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness, or you’ll be like him yourself. 5 Answer a fool according to his foolishness, or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 26:4-5 (CSB)
The one who sends a message by a fool’s hand cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.
Proverbs 26:6 (CSB)
As a dog returns to its vomit, so also a fool repeats his foolishness.
Proverbs 26:11 (CSB)
2. The Egomaniac Fool Values Their Ideas More Than God’s
Do you see a person who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Proverbs 26:12 (CSB)
3. The Slacker Fool Looks for the Easiest Way to Get by
The slacker says, “There’s a lion in the road—a lion in the public square!” 14 A door turns on its hinges, and a slacker, on his bed.15 The slacker buries his hand in the bowl; he is too weary to bring it to his mouth!16 In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser than seven who can answer sensibly.
Proverbs 26:13-16 (CSB)
The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.
Proverbs 20:4 (CSB)
He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.
Titus 2:14 (CSB)
4. The Gossip Fool Provokes People by Their Words
A person who is passing by and meddles in a quarrel that’s not his is like one who grabs a dog by the ears.
Proverbs 26:17 (CSB)
Like a madman who throws flaming darts and deadly arrows,19 so is the person who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!” 20 Without wood, fire goes out; without a gossip, conflict dies down. 21 As charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
Proverbs 26:18-21 (CSB)
A gossip’s words are like choice food that goes down to one’s innermost being. Smooth lips with an evil heart are like glaze on an earthen vessel. A hateful person disguises himself with his speech and harbors deceit within. When he speaks graciously, don’t believe him, for there are seven detestable things in his heart. Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his evil will be revealed in the assembly. The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone—it will come back on him. A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.
Proverbs 26:24-28 (CSB)
Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
Matthew 12:34 (CSB)
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (CSB)
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