Proverbs 27

¹Boast not thyself of tomorrow;

For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

²Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth;

A stranger, and not thine own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty;

But a fool’s vexation is heavier than they both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming;

But who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke

Than love that is hidden.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

But the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

⁷The full soul loatheth a honeycomb;

But to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

⁸As a bird that wandereth from her nest,

So is a man that wandereth from his place.

⁹Oil and perfume rejoice the heart;

So doth the sweetness of a man’s friend that cometh of hearty counsel.

¹⁰Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not;

And go not to thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity:

Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.

¹¹My son, be wise, and make my heart glad,

That I may answer him that reproacheth me.

¹²A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself;

But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take his garment that is surety for a stranger;

And hold him in pledge that is surety for a foreign woman.

¹⁴He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning,

It shall be counted a curse to him.

¹⁵A continual dropping in a very rainy day

And a contentious woman are alike:

¹⁶He that would restrain her restraineth the wind;

And his right hand encountereth oil.

¹⁷Iron sharpeneth iron;

So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

¹⁸Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof;

And he that regardeth his master shall be honored.

¹⁹As in water face answereth to face,

So the heart of man to man.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied;

And the eyes of man are never satisfied.

²¹The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold;

And a man is tried by his praise.

²²Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with bruised grain,

Yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

²³Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks,

And look well to thy herds:

²⁴For riches are not for ever;

And doth the crown endure unto all generations?

²⁵The hay is carried, and the tender grass showeth itself,

And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in.

²⁶The lambs are for thy clothing,

And the goats are the price of the field;

²⁷And there will be goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household,

And maintenance for thy maidens.