< Proverbs 27 >

1 Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day brings forth. 2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth, A stranger, and not your own lips. 3 A stone [is] heavy, and the sand [is] heavy, And the anger of a fool Is heavier than them both. 4 Fury [is] fierce, and anger [is] overflowing, And who stands before jealousy? 5 Better [is] open reproof than hidden love. 6 The wounds of a lover are faithful, And the kisses of an enemy [are] abundant. 7 A satiated soul treads down a honeycomb, And every bitter thing [is] sweet [to] a hungry soul. 8 As a bird wandering from her nest, So [is] a man wandering from his place. 9 Perfume and incense make the heart glad, And the sweetness of one’s friend—from counsel of the soul. 10 Do not forsake your own friend and the friend of your father, And do not enter the house of your brother in a day of your calamity, A near neighbor [is] better than a brother far off. 11 Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, And I return a word [to] my reproacher. 12 The prudent has seen the evil, he is hidden, The simple have passed on, they are punished. 13 Take his garment when a stranger has been guarantor, And pledge it for a strange woman. 14 Whoever is greeting his friend with a loud voice, Rising early in the morning, It is reckoned a light thing to him. 15 A continual dropping in a day of rain, And a woman of contentions are alike, 16 Whoever is hiding her has hidden the wind, And the ointment of his right hand calls out. 17 Iron is sharpened by iron, And a man sharpens the face of his friend. 18 The keeper of a fig tree eats its fruit, And the preserver of his master is honored. 19 As [in] water the face [is] to face, So the heart of man to man. 20 Sheol and destruction are not satisfied, And the eyes of man are not satisfied. (Sheol h7585) 21 A refining pot [is] for silver, and a furnace for gold, And a man according to his praise. 22 If you beat the foolish in a mortar, Among washed things—with a pestle, His folly does not turn aside from off him. 23 Know the face of your flock well, Set your heart to the droves, 24 For riches [are] not for all time, Nor a crown to generation and generation. 25 The hay was revealed, and the tender grass seen, And the herbs of mountains gathered. 26 Lambs [are] for your clothing, And the price of the field [are] male goats, 27 And a sufficiency of goats’ milk [is] for your bread, For bread to your house, and life to your girls!

< Proverbs 27 >