Proverbs 27

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Instructions and Warnings

Do not boast about tomorrow,

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

Let a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth;

A foreigner, and not your own lips.

A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,

But the provocation of an ignorant fool is heavier than both of them.

Wrath is cruelty and anger is a flood,

But who can stand before jealousy?

Better is reproof that is revealed

Than love that is hidden.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,

But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb,

But to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.

Like a bird that wanders from her nest,

So is a man who wanders from his place.

Oil and incense make the heart glad,

So counsel from the soul is sweet to his friend.

Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend,

And do not come to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster;

Better is one who dwells near than a brother far away.

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

That I may respond with a word to him who reproaches me.

A prudent man sees evil and hides,

The simple pass on and are punished.

Take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger;

And for a foreign woman seize it as a pledge.

He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning,

It will be counted as a curse to him.

A constant dripping on a day of steady rain

And a contentious woman are alike;

He who would restrain her restrains the wind,

And grasps oil with his right hand.

Iron sharpens iron,

So one man sharpens another.

He who guards the fig tree will eat its fruit,

And he who keeps watch for his master will be honored.

As in water face reflects face,

So the heart of man reflects man.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,

So the eyes of man are never satisfied.

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

And each is tested by the mouth that praises him.

Though you pound an ignorant fool in a mortar with a pestle in the midst of crushed grain,

His folly will not turn aside from him.

Know well the condition of your flocks,

And pay attention to your herds;

For wealth is not forever,

Neither is a crown from generation to generation.

When the grass disappears and the vegetation appears,

And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,

The lambs will be for your clothing,

And the goats will bring the price of a field,

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

For the food of your household,

And sustenance for your maidens.

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