Proverbs 27
1 Do not boast about [what you will do] tomorrow, because you do not know what will happen [PRS] on any day.
Do not make a noise about tomorrow, for you are not certain what a day's outcome may be.
2 Do not praise yourself [MTY, PRS]; allow others to praise you. If someone else praises you, that is okay.
Let another man give you praise, and not your mouth; one who is strange to you, and not your lips.
3 [It causes pain to our bodies to carry heavy] stones or [a pail full of] sand, but doing something stupid/foolish [can cause] great [pain to other people’s spirits.]
A stone has great weight, and sand is crushing; but the wrath of the foolish is of greater weight than these.
4 It is cruel to be angry [with others], and our being angry sometimes destroys [others], but being jealous of someone is [RHQ] often more cruel than that.
Wrath is cruel, and angry feeling an overflowing stream; but who does not give way before envy?
5 It is better to correct someone openly than to show that you l don’t love that person [by not correcting him].
Better is open protest than love kept secret.
6 If a friend criticizes you, [he is a good friend and] you can trust him; but if one of your enemies kisses you, he is [probably wanting to] deceive you.
The wounds of a friend are given in good faith, but the kisses of a hater are false.
7 When someone’s stomach is full, he does not want to eat honey; but when someone is [very] hungry, he thinks that [even] bitter things taste sweet.
The full man has no use for honey, but to the man in need of food every bitter thing is sweet.
8 Anyone who wanders [far] from his home/family is like [SIM] a bird that is far from its nest.
Like a bird wandering from the place of her eggs is a man wandering from his station.
9 [Putting olive] oil and perfume on a person’s skin causes him to feel good, but having a friend [who gives] good advice [is even better].
Oil and perfume make glad the heart, and the wise suggestion of a friend is sweet to the soul.
10 Do not neglect your friends or your parents’ friends; and at a time when you are experiencing a disaster, do not go to a relative [who lives far away to request his help]; someone who lives near you can help you more than relatives who live far away.
Do not give up your friend and your father's friend; and do not go into your brother's house in the day of your trouble: better is a neighbour who is near than a brother far off.
11 My child/son, cause me to be happy by becoming wise, in order that I will [know how to] reply to those who would criticize me [about your behavior].
My son, be wise and make my heart glad, so that I may give back an answer to him who puts me to shame.
12 Those who have good sense will realize that there is something dangerous ahead, and they will hide; those who do not have good sense [just] keep going, and later they will suffer because of [doing] that.
The sharp man sees the evil and takes cover: the simple go straight on and get into trouble.
13 [You deserve to] have your property taken from you if you [foolishly] promise to a stranger (OR, a strange woman) that you will pay what she owes if she is unable to pay it [DOU].
Take a man's clothing if he makes himself responsible for a strange man, and get an undertaking from him who gives his word for strange men.
14 If you rise early in the morning and call out a greeting to your neighbor [while he is still sleeping], he will consider it to be a curse, [not a blessing].
He who gives a blessing to his friend with a loud voice, getting up early in the morning, will have it put to his account as a curse.
15 [Having] a wife that is [constantly] nagging is as [bad as listening] to rain continually dripping on a rainy day.
Like an unending dropping on a day of rain is a bitter-tongued woman.
16 [Trying] to restrain/stop her [from doing that] is as [difficult] [SIM] [as trying] to stop the wind or [trying] to hold oil in your hand.
He who keeps secret the secret of his friend, will get himself a name for good faith.
17 [We can use one] iron tool to sharpen [another] iron [tool]; similarly [SIM], [when one person shares] what he is thinking, it can help other people [to think more clearly].
Iron makes iron sharp; so a man makes sharp his friend.
18 Those who take care of fig trees will have figs to eat; [similarly], servants who protect their master will be honored [by him].
Whoever keeps a fig-tree will have its fruit; and the servant waiting on his master will be honoured.
19 [When a person looks] in the water, he sees his own face; similarly [SIM], [when we look at] a person’s behavior, we know what he is thinking.
Like face looking at face in water, so are the hearts of men to one another.
20 [It is as though] the place where the dead people are is always wanting more people to [die and] come there; and humans [SYN] are always wanting to acquire more things, [too]. (Sheol h7585)
The underworld and Abaddon are never full, and the eyes of man have never enough. (Sheol h7585)
21 [Workers put] silver and gold in a very hot furnace [to burn out what is impure], and [SIM] people learn [what we are really like when they see how we react when people] praise us.
The heating-pot is for silver and the oven-fire for gold, and a man is measured by what he is praised for.
22 Even if you beat/crush a fool severely [like] [MET] you pulverize grain with a pestle, you [probably] will not be able to cause him to stop (being foolish/doing foolish things).
Even if a foolish man is crushed with a hammer in a vessel among crushed grain, still his foolish ways will not go from him.
23 Take good care of your flocks of sheep and herds of cattle,
Take care to have knowledge about the condition of your flocks, looking well after your herds;
24 because the money [that you acquired from selling animals previously] will not (last/stay with you) forever; similarly [SIM], governments [MTY] certainly do not [RHQ] last forever.
For wealth is not for ever, and money does not go on for all generations.
25 After you cut the hay [DOU] and [store it to feed the animals in the winter while] a new crop of hay is growing,
The grass comes up and the young grass is seen, and the mountain plants are got in.
26 you will be able to [shear the sheep and] make clothes from the wool, and you will get money from selling [some of] the goats to buy [more] land,
The lambs are for your clothing, and the he-goats make the value of a field:
27 and you will get enough milk from the [other] goats for you and your family and your female servants.
There will be goats' milk enough for your food, and for the support of your servant-girls.
