1Like snow in summer, and as rain in harvest,
so honor is not fitting for a fool.
2Like a fluttering sparrow,
like a darting swallow,
so the undeserved curse doesn’t come to rest.
3A whip is for the horse,
a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the back of fools!
4Don’t answer a fool according to his folly,
lest you also be like him.
5Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.
6One who sends a message by the hand of a fool
is cutting off feet and drinking violence.
7Like the legs of the lame that hang loose,
so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
8As one who binds a stone in a sling,
so is he who gives honor to a fool.
9Like a thorn bush that goes into the hand of a drunkard,
so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
10As an archer who wounds all,
so is he who hires a fool
or he who hires those who pass by.
11As a dog that returns to his vomit,
so is a fool who repeats his folly.
12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
13The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
A fierce lion roams the streets!”
14As the door turns on its hinges,
so does the sluggard on his bed.
15The sluggard buries his hand in the dish.
He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
than seven men who answer with discretion.
17Like one who grabs a dog’s ears
is one who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own.
18Like a madman who shoots torches, arrows, and death,
19is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Am I not joking?”
20For lack of wood a fire goes out.
Without gossip, a quarrel dies down.
21As coals are to hot embers,
and wood to fire,
so is a contentious man to kindling strife.
22The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels,
they go down into the innermost parts.
23Like silver dross on an earthen vessel
are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart.
24A malicious man disguises himself with his lips,
but he harbors evil in his heart.
25When his speech is charming, don’t believe him,
for there are seven abominations in his heart.
26His malice may be concealed by deception,
but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
27Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it.
Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.
28A lying tongue hates those it hurts;
and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Picturesque Speech
Vivid or overstated language
"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye?" Luke 14:26
"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."
Puns
A play on words
John 3:8, interchange of wind and Spirit, which are the same word in the Greek Matt 23:24, gnat (qalma') and camel (gamla') are used in reacting to a Pharisee observance of Lev 11:41f.
Proverbs
Not to be understood as absolutes; they stress one side of a truth.
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Lest you also be like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
Lest he be wise in his own eyes. Matt 7:1 with Matt 7:6
"Judge not, that you be not judged."
"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."
Poetry
Hebrew poetry is not based on rhyme or meter as is commonly done today but is concerned with balance of thought. Jesus used this form. There are various kinds of poetical form:
Luke 6:27-28 Synonymous
But I say to you who hear:
Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
and pray for those who spitefully use you.
Mark 8:35 Antithetic
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.
Luke 9:48 Stairlike or climactic
"Whoever receives this little child in My name receives me;
and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.
For he who is least among you all will be great."
Luke 17:26-30 Double parallel stanzas
26 As it was in the days of Noah, even so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man.
27 They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all.
30 It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
See Bruce Metzger, Introduction to the New Testament.