2 Like a bird flying away to another place, and like a sparrow that hurries away freely, so also a curse uttered against someone without cause will pass away.
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.