Proverbs 17:7-24 - The Consequences Of Being A Fool
7 {Fine speech} [is] not becoming a fool, {still less} [is] {false speech} for a ruler.
8 The bribe [is] a stone of magic in the eyes of its owner; {everywhere} he will turn, he will prosper.
9 He who forgives an affront fosters love, but he who waits on a matter will alienate a friend.
10 A rebuke strikes him who understands deeper than one hundred blows to a fool.
11 An evil person will seek only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
12 [May] a man meet a she-bear robbed of offspring and not a fool in his folly.
13 [For] he who returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.
14 [Like] the release of water [is] the beginning of strife; before it breaks out, stop the quarrel.
15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, the two of them [are] both abominations of Yahweh.
16 Why [is] this? A price in the hand of a fool, [in order] to buy wisdom where there is no {sense}.
17 The friend loves at all times, but a brother is born for adversity.
18 A person who lacks {sense} {pledges}; he becomes security before his neighbor.
19 He who loves transgression loves strife; he who builds his high thresholds seeks destruction.
20 He who is crooked of heart will not find goodness, and he who is perverse, by his tongue he will fall into calamity.
21 He who begets a fool, [there is] trouble for him; the father of a fool will not rejoice.
22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit will dry out bones.
23 The wicked will accept a bribe from the lap, [in order] to pervert the ways of justice.
24 He who understands sets [his] face [toward] wisdom, but the eyes of a fool, to the end of the earth.