Like snow in the summer when they spread the figs in the sun to dry them and to make fig cakes, as is stated (II Sam. 16:2): “the bread and the dried figs for the young men to eat.”

Like a wandering sparrow that wanders and like a swallow that returns to its nest, so...

will a vain curse come home to the one who uttered it with his mouth.

swallow Heb. דרור. This is the bird known as arondele in Old French, [hirondelle in modern French, schwalbe in German,] which is called דרור, because it lives (דר) in a house as in a field.

A whip is for the horse [It] is made for the horse, and also a rod is prepared for the body of fools. Tortures are prepared for the wicked.

Do not answer a fool with words of quarrel and contention lest you become like him.

Answer a fool who comes to win you over to idolatry; let him know his folly.

lest he be wise in his sight The meaning of these two verses is explained in [the verses] themselves: Do not answer in a matter in which you will become like him if you answer him. Answer a fool in a matter in which he will be wise in his sight if you do not answer him.

wears out legs and “drinks violence” He who sends a message by the hand of a fool wears out the legs of many messengers by repetitively sending [them] to rectify what the first one, whom he sent at the beginning, distorted. And he “drinks violence,” for his fellow is wroth with him for sending a fool.

thighs seem raised to a lame man Heb. דליו, as in (Isa. 38:14): “My eyes were lifted (דלו).” Every man’s thighs appear to the lame to be higher than he. This phrase is a parable in the mouth of the fool, who says it in reference to the study of wisdom, “How can we come to study wisdom? It is hidden and raised up higher than I am. The parable states, ‘Thighs seem raised to a lame man.’”

in a slingshot Heb. במרגמה fronde in French, Schleuder in German, in which the stone tied will not remain, for it is destined to be thrown, so is it with one who gives honor to a fool—it is not permanent. And our Sages (Hullin 133a) explained it homiletically as referring to one who teaches Torah to an unfitting student, that he is tantamount to casting a stone into a merculis.

A thorn came up in a drunkard’s hand Just like a thorn that is stuck to a drunkard’s hand, so is the parable stated below stuck in the mouth of a fool to be for him as a thorn—yea, a painful thorn. Now what is the parable?...

The Master created all The Holy One, blessed be He, created all and sustains all, the fool like the wise man. We do not need any wisdom.

and He hires a fool Unlike a mortal, who hires only expert workers, and who hires only those engaged in his work, the Holy One, blessed be He, creates all and hires the fools and hires wayfarers, who are idle from all work. [According to] Midrash Aggadah, ושכר כסיל is from an expression of (Gen. 8:2) “And the fountains of the deep were closed (ויסכרו),” and an expression of (Isa. 19:10) “who make dams (שכר).” The Holy One, blessed be He, closes up the constellation of Orion (כסיל), which serves in the summer from Tishri on, and from then on, He closes off all who traverse the sea from going into it until Passover. And in the words of Rabbi Moses, I saw: רב מחולל כל, A wealthy man has many activities, and if he hires a fool, it is as though he is hiring all wayfarers who witness the deterioration of the work, to instruct how to rectify it and how he should work. This is, however, an empty thing and has no connection here.

in the cauldron He buries his hand in a hot cauldron because of the cold.

who give advice wise men.

one who grabs a dog by its ears One who passes by and becomes embroiled in a quarrel that is not his is like one who grabs a dog by his ears, who causes him to bite him for no reason.

Like one who wearies himself Like one who wearies himself shooting sparks of fire, as in (Isa. 50: 11): “and in the flames (ובזיקות) you have kindled”; from the expression זיקוקים דינור (Ber. 58b), flames of fire. Another explanation. זקים, frondeles in Old French, slings, from an expression of slingstones (Zech. 9:15), and so in the Talmud (Baba Mezia 94a) זיקתא פסוק לן, “slingers are assigned to us.” He shoots arrows and death.

so is a man who deceives He wins over and entices his friend from ways of life to ways of death, and when his friend realizes that he is misleading him, he says, “I am joking.”

without wood That is to say: These two things are analogous; just as without wood the fire goes out, so without a grumbler, who slanders and incites quarrelers, strife quiets down.

As charcoal is for coals and wood is for fire Charcoal on fire is capable of igniting dying embers, and wood is capable of kindling fire, and a quarrelsome man of kindling strife.

as though waging battle Heb. כמתלהמים, an expression of מתלחמים. Our Sages however, explained כמתלהמים, כמתלהם, like death to them. The words of the spies became their death.

the innermost parts of the body lit. they go down into the chambers of the stomach. This is the death of dropsy.

overlaid on earthenware Like silver dross attached to the earthenware in which it is refined, making the utensil shine as though it were silver although it has no use, so are burning lips and wicked heart, which pursue people to entice them with smooth and hypocritical talk.

and a wicked heart They appear to be friends, but they are enemies.

burning Heb. דולקים, as in “you pursued (דלקת) me so hotly” (Gen. 31:36).

An enemy dissembles With his speech, an enemy dissembles, so that it is not recognizable that he is an enemy. ינכר, deconnoitre in French, [verkennen in German, and so did Redak write, that it is an expression of denial and making oneself strange, the opposite of recognition (הכרה)].

When the hatred is covered with darkness If one performs his deed in the darkness and conceals with משאון, which is pitch darkness (שואת חשך) the thing that is hated by the Holy One, blessed be He, [then] ultimately the Holy One, blessed be He, will reveal his evil in public, so that they should recognize that he is wicked.

He who digs a pit For example, Balaam, who persuaded Balak to cause Israel to sin and caused twenty-four thousand of them to fall. He came to Midian to demand his pay and was slain by Israel.

and he who rolls That is to say that whoever places a stumbling block will ultimately stumble on it.

and he who rolls a stone He rolls it from place to place so that people will stumble on it. The Aggadah (Tanhuma Buber, Vayera 28, see footnote 157) interprets it in reference to Abimelech, who slew his seventy brothers on one stone and his end was that he died by a stone, as it is said (Jud. 9:53): “And a certain woman cast a piece of an upper millstone upon Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.”

hates those crushed under him He who accepts slander hates those crushed under him, for Saul pursued David because of slander and slew Nob.

and a smooth mouth A mouth of flattery.

effects rejection It makes him rejected, for it rejects the one who accepts it from upon the Holy One, blessed be He.