Proverbs 27

¹Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

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 can stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke

than hidden love.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

⁷He who is sated loathes honey,

but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.

⁸Like a bird that strays from its nest,

is a man who strays from his home.

⁹Oil and perfume make the heart glad,

but the soul is torn by trouble.

¹⁰Your friend, and your father’s friend, do not forsake;

and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity.

Better is a neighbor who is near

than a brother who is far away.

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

that I may answer him who reproaches me.

¹²A prudent man sees danger and hides himself;

but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take a man’s garment when he has given surety for a stranger,

and hold him in pledge when he gives surety for foreigners.

¹⁴He who blesses his 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 woman are alike;

¹⁶to restrain her is to restrain the wind

or to grasp oil in one’s right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron,

and one man sharpens another.

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

and he who guards his master will be honored.

¹⁹As in water face answers to face,

so the mind of man reflects the man.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,

and never satisfied are the eyes of man.

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

and a man is judged by his praise.

²²Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle

along with crushed grain,

yet his folly will not depart from him.

²³Know well the condition of your flocks,

and give attention to your herds;

²⁴for riches do not last for ever;

and does a crown endure to all generations?

²⁵When the grass is gone, and the 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 maintenance for your maidens.