Proverbs 27

¹Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring.

²Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—

a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,

but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,

but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke

than hidden love.

⁶Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts,

but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

⁷The sated appetite spurns honey,

but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet.

⁸Like a bird that strays from its nest

is one who strays from home.

⁹Perfume and incense make the heart glad,

but the soul is torn by trouble.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent;

do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity.

Better is a neighbor who is nearby

than kindred who are far away.

¹¹Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad,

so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.

¹²The clever see danger and hide;

but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger;

seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

¹⁴Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice,

rising early in the morning,

will be counted as cursing.

¹⁵A continual dripping on a rainy day

and a contentious wife are alike;

¹⁶to restrain her is to restrain the wind

or to grasp oil in the right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron,

and one person sharpens the wits of another.

¹⁸Anyone who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,

and anyone who takes care of a master will be honored.

¹⁹Just as water reflects the face,

so one human heart reflects another.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,

and human eyes are never satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,

so a person is tested by being praised.

²²Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle

along with crushed grain,

but the folly will not be driven out.

²³Know well the condition of your flocks,

and give attention to your herds;

²⁴for riches do not last forever,

nor a crown for all generations.

²⁵When the grass is gone, and new growth appears,

and the herbage of the mountains is gathered,

²⁶the lambs will provide your clothing,

and the goats the price of a field;

²⁷there will be enough goats’ milk for your food,

for the food of your household

and nourishment for your servant-girls.