¹⁵ Patience can persuade a prince,
    and soft speech can break bones.

¹⁶ Do you like honey?
    Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

¹⁷ Don’t visit your neighbors too often,
    or you will wear out your welcome.

¹⁸ Telling lies about others
    is as harmful as hitting them with an ax,
wounding them with a sword,
    or shooting them with a sharp arrow.

¹⁹ Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble
    is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.

²⁰ Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart
    is like taking someone’s coat in cold weather
    or pouring vinegar in a wound.^[a]

²¹ If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat.
    If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.
²² You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads,
    and the Lord will reward you.

²³ As surely as a north wind brings rain,
    so a gossiping tongue causes anger!

²⁴ It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic
    than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.

²⁵ Good news from far away
    is like cold water to the thirsty.

²⁶ If the godly give in to the wicked,
    it’s like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.

²⁷ It’s not good to eat too much honey,
    and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.

²⁸ A person without self-control
    is like a city with broken-down walls.